Adam Lewis Jacob
Ecstatic _____, 2023
Edition of 3 + 2 A.P.
Courtesy Zyrland Zoiropa and the artist
Ecstatic _____ (2023, pronounced Ecstatic Underscore) documents a performance by the percussionist Ryosuke Kiyasu (Fushitsusha, Sete Star Sept, Kiyasu orchestra), whose frenetic improvisation sets the rhythm of the film. Taking its cues from the physicality of this performance, the camera jumps and lurches through an anxious cityscape, creating a complex overlaying of systems, symbols and unspoken words. Reflexively drawing attention to the eye, the lens and the screen, Ecstatic _____ viscerally conveys capitalism’s homogenising and dispiriting effects on the body and the psyche.
Adam Lewis Jacob is an artist known for his videos, images, and exhibitions. He often collaborates with individuals involved in artistic and political subcultures, incorporating archival material to reanimate ideas that have not endured in the mainstream. He uses the camera to create a space where ideas and people can be brought together using improvisation, performance, and sound to reinterpret research and reactivate histories. He is one of the founding members of Céline, an independent artist-run exhibition space in Glasgow.
Zyrland Zoiropa is a contemporary art gallery situated in Berlin. Since opening in 2021, it has presented nine exhibitions featuring emerging artists, including solo shows by Elizabeth Ravn, Anne Fellner, David Tannenbaum, Burkhard Beschow, Albin Looström, Lisa Götze, and Liam Allan. The gallery primarily showcases artists with a hands-on approach to art-making who are based in Berlin.
In 2022, the gallery collaborated with the Berlin-based project space ‘Sangt Hypolit’ as part of the Berlin Project Space Festival to produce an experimental performance event throughout the Berlin Wedding district. In late 2024, it will host solo exhibitions by Seth Pick and Áine Mac Giolla Bhríde.