Published as commentary on new acquisitions of the FRAC Grand Large collection, Dunkerque, 2026.
After completing an undergraduate degree at ENSAAMA in Paris, Brett pursued further studies at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna and earned an MA in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths College, London. In addition to solo exhibitions, including Villa Noailles × Révélations Emerige at Ancien Evêché, Toulon (2023), Brett has participated in numerous international group shows, such as those at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, and Kunsthal Charlottenborg (2024–2025).
Electronic equipment forms the material basis of Gillian Brett’s installations and wall-based works since 2015. Components are often dismantled and physically reworked, with only the basic power supply retained for exhibition purposes. What looks like a live feed of starfields in Brett`s (After Hubble)-series, prove to be partial cracks and diffuse faulty areas. Titled after the Hubble space telescope, the employed LCD screens present quite a counter-image to the reference mentioned. Whereas the flagship of technological progress is orbiting planet earth since 1990, the LTM190E08(TL)(L2)ZB screen used in Brett’s series appears seriously damaged.
Its backcover has been replaced by a fence-like steel grid, and its surface is burnt, sanded and drilled. The appearent starfield image at first glance reveals itself as a field of small holes at closer inspection. Once the desirable consumer good has been turned into electronic waste through sculptural treatment, liquid crystals leak from their confined technological structures and start an ongoing process of transformation.
Brett’s work not only foregrounds the physicality and vulnerability of digital technology but also envisions a planetary imagery for a potential post-technological future.
Work
LTM190E08(TL)(L2)ZB (After Hubble), 2024
LCD screen, steel, ink
40,5 x 33,5 x 7 cm