In a galaxy not so far away or that long ago, the Empire has surrendered its technological knowledge to the Ewoks. But this isn’t a work of bizarro fiction, it is the surreal world of Edinburgh based sculptor David McAllister.
David’s latest work, a hybrid of an Ewok and an oracle – aptly titled Eworical – seeks to explore how contemporary identity is formulated in a world of the post-human. It examines the creation of cybernetic humanity in a purposefully absurd way. 
The Eworical, or rather the Eworicals since there are four of them, act as gatekeepers to internet and the knowledge held within. Each Ewok utilises instant messaging, VoIP, RSS feeds and social networking to seek answers to questions corresponding to a specific subtopic. The work of the four sublimely crafted Ewok sculptures (pictured below and viewable on live stream here) is overseen by an eagle acting as a forum monitor. The individual parts taken together form a call-centre-like installation linking traditional sculpture to virtual world, probing the nature of reality, humanity and virtuality in the process.
The sculptures are immaculately wrought, combining machine and hand-crafted techniques, forming an aesthetic the creator describes as ‘Made in China’ style. It is, however, David’s conceptual juxtaposition of machine and human, and his exploration of the wilderness where the two meet that is perhaps the most exciting element of this work, pointing, as it does, towards the sculpture of the future.
Eworical is on display from the 4th August to the 4th September 2011, Wed-Sun, 12-8pm Inspace, 1 Crichton Street, Edinburgh. For more information or to connect with or even adopt an Eworical click here.
TEXT: Sten
PHOTOS: Chrisdonia
