Duncan Marquiss: Copying Errors

For spring 2016 we're delighted to present Copying Errors, the largest exhibition to date by Scottish artist Duncan Marquiss. In his video works and drawings Marquiss often draws links between a range of cultural reference points, bringing them together in new and unexpected ways. The exhibition presents a selection of works from the last five years of his practice, revealing shifts in style and execution. This body of work ranges from the material experimentation of his drawings and flicker films, to recent documentary videos that stem from his interest in biology. The title of the exhibition refers to biological variations caused by errors in the reproduction of genetic information, yet it is also a reference to Marquiss’ preoccupation with the idiosyncrasies that occur within the materials he uses.

Copying Errors includes the first gallery presentation of Marquiss’ video Evolutionary Jerks & Gradualist Creeps, which was commissioned through the Margaret Tait Award and premiered at Glasgow Film Festival earlier this year. This piece features interviews with the biologists Niles Eldredge and Armand Marie Leroi, in which they discuss the controversies surrounding Eldredge's revolutionary theory of Punctuated Equilibria; evolution in fits and starts. Leroi has recently found a similar pattern of change in his study of the evolution of pop music, which he describes as ‘pop- paleontology’. Their conversation considers the analogies and differences between biological and cultural evolution, taking in Eldredge's vast collection of brass musical instruments and Leroi's burgeoning ‘science of culture’, which uses algorithms to trace cultural genealogies. This dialogue is interwoven with footage shot by Marquiss, who takes the themes of the discussion as a cue for image-making processes and editing structures.