The Calling by Chris Boyd

The Calling is profound and stirring and cuts into our preconceptions of origin and evolution, not only of ourselves, the human creature, but from the inaugural onset of time itself, the planet.

The imagery used on the single channel video by artist Chris Boyd is sensual and emotive. It imbues a sense of our physical entity and existence, where we have come from and ultimately leaves one with a sense of reflection and retrospective. An awareness of the moment, now, as if standing on the precipice of contemplation of where humanity is going. It is both sexual and spiritual, the fundamentals that drive life forward. It is provocative, yet intrinsic, and touches on the core elements of human consciousness and perception of time and space and our roles within the socio-historical edifice.

As I watched the writhing and cascading bodies, genomic re-reproduction of digitalised forms, I saw my heritage, myself and my progeny in that one moment. It captures the viewer, but gets inside and holds them at that moment where time seems to stand still. The split second of awakenings and realisations cognitive, as ‘I think, therefore I am’ (Descartes), E = mc² (Einstein); Eureka (Archimedes); ‘Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds’, Oppenheimer. The sentience is embodied in Boyd’s visualisations.

In 2004 Chris, an Interactive Arts student at Manchester Metropolitan from 2003-2006, received a Microwave award from FACT, the UK’s leading organisation for the development and exhibition of film, video and new media. He won the Big Art Challenge, where he was labelled a genius by art critic Brian Sewell, the 6 part series on channel 5 was aiming to seek out the next Damien Hirst or JMW Turner with a prize of £10,000. In 2005 Chris received a Priestley prize and provided a video in 40 artists 40 Days, a special Tate Britain project supporting London’s Olympic bid that brought the Games to Britain in 2012. He curated the Chaosmos exhibition for the Liverpool Biennial 2006.