Dominic Harris – interview: ‘I’m trying to empower the viewer to assume a larger force within the artworks’

At his latest exhibition, Feeding Consciousness, at the Halcyon Gallery, the British artist discussed his inspirations and the artistic processes behind the interactive digital artworks on show

Dominic Harris initially trained as an architect on Stephen Gage’s interactive architecture course at the Bartlett, University College London, and this has informed his interest in kinetic, interactive and immersive art. Inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s belief that “the screen is not the edge of the artwork,”¹ Harris uses the real-time responses of a digitally driven interactive-art system in which the viewer becomes a collaborator with the artist, helping to create meaning.

Dominic Harris, Feeding Consciousness, installation view, Halcyon Gallery, London, 25 May – 13 August 2023. Photo: © Callum Toy. Courtesy of Halcyon Gallery.

His aesthetic continues the tradition of romanticism and notions of the sublime that have intrigued artists since the late 1700s. Drawing on these concepts of the different, the otherworldly and the awesome, Harris’s work evokes the wonder of the natural world, the grandeur of nature or, indeed, the strangeness of contemporary life. Addressing issues of contemporary importance, such as the fragility of ecosystems and global systems of control and consumption, including vast productions of data and the constant bombardment of imagery, the artist aims to connect with beauty to transform the destabilising influence of our now ubiquitous digital technology. This remains vitally important as we continue to navigate the complex inter-relationship of humans and machines in the 21st century.

Dominic Harris, Feeding Consciousness, installation view, Halcyon Gallery, London, 25 May – 13 August 2023. Photo: © Dominic Harris. Courtesy of Halcyon Gallery.

The Halcyon Gallery has recently taken over 148 New Bond Street in Mayfair, London, the former premises of The Fine Art Society, where for more than 140 years works by JMW Turner, James McNeill Whistler and many other leading artists had been exhibited. The Halcyon sees itself as a custodian of this historic building; the renovations have retained many of the original architectural features and the space now takes on a fresher feel for a younger generation of artists. 

Reference
1. Stanley Kubrick, quoted by Peter Krausz in Paths of glory: the abiding legacy of the cinema of Stanley Kubrick, published in Australian Screen Education, issue 41, 2006, pp: 18-23.

Feeding Consciousness
Halcyon Gallery, London
25 May – 13 August 2023

Interview by CATHERINE MASON
Filmed and edited by MARTIN KENNEDY