Meredith Drum
Kingdom 5KR (excerpt)
video, 2021 © the artist
Kingdom 5KR animates symbols for human and non-human animals, plants, deities, and machines into short vignettes playing with the magnetism between the virtual and the real. Though comic, the animations hint at societal and economic disruption and attendant violent acts as well as power slippage between simulated and biological lives. The title refers to a super yacht owned by Al-Waleed bin Talal Al Saud, member of the Saudi Royal Family; the boat is named for his investment company the Kingdom Holding Company combined with his lucky number and the initials of his children. Waleed purchased the boat from Donald Trump, but the yacht was originally built for Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi. Sound for the animation was created by Andrea Williams.
Meredith Drum is an interdisciplinary artist working with video, animation, installation, augmented reality, and various modes of public participation. She creates fictions and documentaries by combining emerging technology with aesthetic and sociological research. She has been supported by grants and residencies from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, ChaNorth, the Wassaic Project, Wave Farm Transmission Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, ISSUE Project Room, the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts, and the Bronx Museum of the Arts, among other institutions. She exhibits frequently in New York City including at Microscope Gallery, Anthology Film Archives, Radiator Gallery, Accola Griefen Gallery, the Film Society at Lincoln Center, and Works on Water on Governors Island. Internationally, her work has been presented in a range of places including the Universitat de Barcelona, ES; the International Symposium of Electronic Arts (ISEA) in Montreal, CA; ISEA in Durban, South Africa; ISEA in Manizales, Colombia; and ISEA in Dubai, UAE.
