'The Big Four' by Bob Bicknell-Knight and Rosa-Maria Nuutinen at Harlesden High Street, London

Within the show Bicknell-Knight exhibits a new series of sculptures, displayed on a large floor installation made from limestone rocks and ethernet cables, shaped like symbol for the world wide web. Developed to resemble a large battle like diorama, over 30 unique ceramic sculptures utilising the Big Four company logos are engaged in a number of small skirmishes atop the rocks, imagining a not so distant future where companies have created autonomous household pets, that play your favourite song, speak to you about your day and help you cook your dinner. These devices have now evolved, becoming hybrids of themselves, fighting one another on the battlefield. The installation functions as a battleground between the different tech companies, with each corporation having its own small army of sculptures. Alongside the sculptures a series of new paintings are also included, positioning the autonomous beings within various environmental spaces, juxtaposing their mechanical bodies with the natural countryside, having escaped from their homes to journey out into the unknown.

Nuutinen is exhibiting a new series of drawings, responding to Bicknell-Knight’s sculptures, imagining future scenarios whereby the pets have become fully autonomous, pulling themselves apart, forming gangs and ravaging the earth. Within the drawings, the autonomous beings become relics of our current world, where humans no longer exist but their technological creations continue to have an ongoing impact on the earth. Life is seen to continue forwards, with or without the presence of human beings. In one work, Member to wear your shower cap after Doom’s day, the Facebook logo is depicted relaxing in a Japanese hot spring, whilst in another, Bounty Hunter, the Apple logo is collecting body parts of other devices to hang on IKEA kitchen hooks.