Alice Anderson is the Laureate of the 15th SAM Prize for Contemporary Art. The prize is awarded to an artist in the French art scene who presents a project to be realized internationally. Anderson will travel to Brazil to create her project titled Solidarity with the nonhuman, together in the anthropocene era.
The performer poetically reactivates the strong link between the human and the non-human by beginning her performances with sessions of observation of technological objects. Anderson does not paint with a brush but directly with an object coated with paint. These computers, drones, batteries, virtual reality masks (etc...) then take hold of the artist, leading her into a dance punctuated by hyperventilated breaths that guide her towards a trance, towards another dimension of the environment and matter.
In Anderson's practice, the technological objects memorised on the canvas using paint are then assembled and crystallised using copper wire, a material that symbolises neuronal and technological connections, to become sculptures. Erected as "Spiritual Machines", these recycled machines embody an ecological conscience. They take their name from the book "The Age of the Spiritual Machines" by artificial intelligence pioneer Ray Kurzweil, published in 1999.
The SAM Prize includes a 20,000 euro award, and will be accompanied by an exhibition in Paris in 2025.
Learn more on the SAM Prize site.
