Simon Denny

Topic: Simon Denny

Student name: Chan Yik Fei

Student number: 60169927

This time, we are exploring the artist Simon Denny. Denny was born in Auckland and now grew to become a contemporary artist based in Berlin.

When observing Denny’s work, you might find it familiar. It may be something you’ve heard about through the news, or something you’ve played and used before. Denny’s work often reference other objects or information, the references itself sometimes are common, daily things ,and some are more futuristic and niche.

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For example, this here is “Dungeon map 4: Nvidia H100 chip”. The object Denny referenced is obviously a Nvidia H100 chip, a chip is something any gamer with a pc will recognise as an integral part of their setup, whether they use this specific chip or not. A chip allows you to play games, but in this artwork the game is on the “chip” itself.

As the name suggests, the chip resembles a dungeon map in games, each box is its own chamber with bridges connecting the different sections, allowing the player to explore. It reminds me of those retro pixel games that lets you explore while killing a few monsters here and there. I think its interesting to see our imaginative, digital world laid out before our eyes in real life, to see just how much objects in life resembles our digital world of games, and view objects with a creative mind.

https://www.petzel.com/collect/simon-denny4

Another installation named “Optimism” by Denny also references something in our trending topics. Can you guess what it is? It’s space exploration, here Denny referenced patent diagrams of rocket engine parts from Rocket Lab.

The name “Optimism” has to do with companies planned years in advance, designing and patenting before others get to, and way before actual implementation. Not only that, to me “Optimism” also references people’s hopes and dreams about space exploration. For decades and centuries people have been exploring beyond the sky using telescopes and now in-person, rockets and robots. In our pop culture, people’s fascination about space has only soared with advancements, movies such as Star Was, Star Trek, Alien and more only fuels the speculation of what’s beyond our blue sky.

This installation also has AR viewable from on-site devices, simulating what these models may do based on their UFO like appearance, such as fictional space travel methods, life on these models and extraterrestrial land and environment. Which corresponds with peoples imagination about life in space throughout the years.

I appreciate Denny’s works, his references to popular things in life makes his works easy to understand and digest for the general audience. “Optimism” is captivating with its visual effects using AR and I think it allows interaction for participants which increases immersion and interest.