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The Hole is pleased to present Software, the debut solo exhibition of Montreal-based visual artist, Vickie Vainionpää. Starting with a generative computer script and ending as oil on canvas, the work depicts softly textured, organic shapes that fold and twist on themselves to create hyper-real forms reminiscent of microorganisms or intestinal tangles.

Inspired as much by biomorphic abstraction as the vaporwave aesthetics of early-2000s Tumblrs, Vainionpää uses code as a medium to create infinitely random relationships between diameter, curve and entanglement resulting in unique forms that relate to the dynamics of internal biology. The relationship between the body and technology is integral to Vainionpää’s symbiotic practice, through which the possibility of the virtual finds grounding in the texture of reality. Vainionpää finds creative freedom in the delicate balance between control and randomness that results from the generative process.

A continuation of Vainionpää’s Soft Body Dynamics series, the paintings for Software feature curvilinear shapes that bend and protrude, twisting into biomorphic forms that are non-representational yet familiar. With their cool, fleshy tones and plush texture, a certain exuberance exists in the work, giving way to a sense of techno-optimism that binds the dual process of code and paint. In addition to this series of paintings, the exhibition will also feature the artist’s first immersive video piece mapped across three walls in the back "apse" of the gallery, titled Dark Mode. Contrasting Vainionpää’s traditionally light, ethereal, and optimistic style of painting, the video installation plays with colors, textures, and lighting that are moody and nocturnal. The 5-minute long 4K looping video is accompanied by a unique synth score written specifically for the project by Montreal musician Nick Schofield to create a sensory experience.

As the show’s title hints, Vainionpää embraces a type of cyborgism by uniting the virtual and the real, and exploring the symbiosis of humans and technology in a body of work that could only have been made through an interdependent collaboration between human and machine. Vainionpää’s Software exemplifies the remarkable innovation that our transitory present fosters, showing us a glimpse of the amorphous hyper-reality that awaits us in the post-human future. Generated in code and rendered materially in paint, Vainionpää embraces the forward momentum of technology in a world that is, in the words of Alan Watts, “a marvelous system of wiggles.” 1

Vickie Vainionpää’s practice considers the impact of technology on the process of painting and investigates the relationship between natural forces and digital processes. In her ongoing Soft Body Dynamics series, twisting, tubular forms are systematically created using generative 3D modeling software. The software randomly generates a set number of splines per day, from which the artist selects to create final compositions which are painted by hand using oil on linen. By embracing new digital means of reading space and content, the works draw attention to the ever-changing relationship between the human body and digital technology.

1 Alan Watts, A Conversation with Myself, 1971 Available on Youtube.

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