“Non Human” is a film inspired by the poet Muriel Rukeyser’s documentary poem, “The Book of the Dead”, which she wrote using direct quotations of workers effected by the Hawk’s Nest industrial catastrophe in West Virginia in the 1930’s. Like Rukeyser’s poem, “Non Human” makes use of documentary sources: the workers’ testimony, Rukeyser’s poetry, and critical race theory to train a generative A.I. that served as a chance aggregator of these archives. “Non Human” then engages five artist/poets collaborators — York Chang, Marcus Civin, Tia-Simone Gardner, Viet Le, and Yvonne Rainer, as collaborators to adapt the generative A.I.’s language into their own discrete poems. These poems formed the script for “Non Human”, which was filmed in Southwest Vermont among disused marble quarries, artists’ studios, and a hospital. Performed by non-actors, the film addresses the same larger subjects of Rukeyser’s “Book of the Dead” — extractive capitalism, anti-Black racism, and environmental destruction.
Biography
David Kelley is an artist working with photography, video, and installation. His recent projects draw attention to the effects of global capitalism, resource extraction, and shifting physical and political landscapes. Influenced by a range of visual traditions, Kelley draws upon elements of experimental documentary, ethnography, performance, and avant-garde cinema. By working at the intersection of these strategies, he encourages an understanding of his subjects that is simultaneously direct and speculative.
His work has been shown in galleries and museums nationally and internationally. Recent exhibitions include the Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, Museum of Modern Art in New York, and Fotofest Biennial, Houston. Other exhibitions include Commonwealth and Council in Los Angeles, The Bank in Shanghai, the de Cordova Biennial in Boston, BAK in Utrecht, MAAP space in Australia, and the Jim Thompson Art Center in Bangkok.
Kelley received a Master of Fine Art from the University of California, Irvine, and was a 2010 -11 resident at the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. He is currently based in Los Angeles, California, and is an Associate Professor of the Practice of Fine Arts at University of Southern California.
