S L O T S SLOTS is a projection-mapped video installation that considers randomness in the life of the artist. The central metaphor is that of a slot machine, in which images are repeatedly combined to produce unpredictable results. The use of randomness as a generative force follows a tradition which includes John Cage, Ellsworth Kelly, William S. Burroughs, the Dadaists, and others. In SLOTS, conventional slot machine symbols are augmented with iconic depictions of humanity from across the history of Western art. When a spin of the machine produces a winning combination, the “payout” is an interlude featuring one of a series of quotations. Textual sources include Andrei Tarkovsky, William Butler Yeats, a slot machine patent application, and the Biblical narrative of Genesis chapter 28 -- in which Jacob dreams of a ladder extending to heaven, and a divine promise of prosperity and an influential legacy. The projection of slot machine imagery on to the stairs at the entrance to the gallery juxtaposes the repetitive, contained futility of the gambling device with the functional, directional, hierarchical structure of the stairway. Among the questions raised, but not resolved: Is the art world a set of steps that the artist can credibly climb to achieve success and significance, or just a game of chance, in which arbitrary forces hold sway, and everything is rigged? SLOTS will be on view as part of THIS IS HOW MY BRAIN WORKS at Radiator Gallery from September 7-30, 2012. For more information, please contact: info@maximusclarke.com