'Dark Matters' Explores The Shadows Between Art And Technology (PHOTOS)

Science, in theory, exists to clarify the truth. Art shows us the beauty of the lie. In 'Dark Matters', an exhibition exploring the shadows between art and science, reveals that the relationship between art and science, the true and the illusory, is far more murky than it first appears.

'Dark Matters' features a collection of diverse works which all touch on the impact of technological and scientific invention upon visual culture. An increase in technological devices designed to help us see brought along a historical increase in paranormal and ethereal visual experiences.

Idris Khan, "Sigmund Freud's 'The Uncanny'

Science and technology warped our desires and our fears; new and different modes of seeing change what we can know and what remains a mystery. Dark and light, fact and fiction, are engaged in constant interplay throughout the evolution of technology. From the first photograph to today's digital ubiquity, the light and the dark are never far apart. New technological developments do not just change our speed and our capabilities, they alter what we deem as true as well as what truth is in itself. Science has shined the light on many truths, but that light comes with shadows that cast puzzling shadows and distorted reflections.

Pascal Grandmaison, "Fake Imagery of a World Upside Down"

From cinema to the internet, the boundaries of truth fade into falsehood just as the boundaries of our bodies begin to merge with the shadow beneath it when we cultivate an online persona or identify with a fictional character. The artworks mix light and shadow, fact and myth, self and shadow, with all too much ease. The exhibition leads viewers to reconsider the limits and meanings of truth, wonder and temporality.

'Dark Matters' will show at Whitworth Art Gallery until January 15, 2012.