Grant Stevens, Outlook, installed at Alaska Projects. Photo: Finn Marchant.

My Feet Would Hurt If They Still Existed is an ode to the twisted, romantic and divine world of digital technology. The group exhibition, curated by artists Nicholas Shearer and Finn Marchant, is on at Alaska Projects until December 13.

Through painting, sculpture and digital video, the artists interrogate the concept of physicality in a world hyper-mediated by technology. Central to this is the question: if so much of our identity is ricocheted across different platforms, apps and networks, how can we ever clearly define where we begin and where we end?

Nicholas Shearer’s work Spiran Fragment is found in the gallery, but it has a whole other life in the mega game franchise, Final Fantasy. Shearer takes images from within the game and recreates them in sandstone using 3D printing technology. The digital bits and data are made physical, while they continue a concurrent, but very different, life inside the game.

Nicholas Sheaer, Spiran Fragment, installed at Alaska Projects. Photo: Finn Marchant

The interrelationship between the material and immaterial is also the focus of Grant Stevens’ work Outlook, depicting a glorious ocean and sky landscape across eight prints, presented on a heavy metal screen mount. In this work, the artist recalls the act of looking for answers on the internet – yep, the humble art of Googlin’. He then conflates this with the notion that in nature there can be extreme beauty, but also the potential for more sinister and dangerous things. Looking deeply into this magnificent world, you can get lost in its beauty or be stolen by it.

This exhibition has a laser vision that is brilliantly executed. The work is incredibly polished and amazing to look at. But this is not a case of style over substance – for these artists, the substance is in style.

It should also be noted that Alaska Projects, housed in Kings Cross carpark, is a brilliant site for this exhibition. As you stand contemplating your immaterial infinity in this gallery space, you are surrounded by slabs of concrete and the hustle and bustle of shiny revving car engines. What a fantastic irony that is.

By Luke Letourneau.

What: My Feet Would Hurt If They Still Existed
Where: Alaska Projects, Level 2, Kings Cross carpark, 9A Elizabeth Bay Rd
Who: Peter Alwast, Rachael Archibald, Grace Blake, Finn Marchant, Ying Miao, Nicholas Shearer and Grant Stevens
When: Saturday & Sunday until December 13
How much:: FREE