Maggie Roberts | Sheer Presence: While They Are Here…

🌟 IMT Gallery is thrilled to unveil the solo exhibition, Sheer Presence: While They Are Here… by acclaimed multimedia artist Maggie Roberts. This transformative showcase delves into the concept of presence through a rich tapestry of watercolour paintings, digital collage, textiles, and video installation. 🌊🎨

In an age marked by ecological crises and social uncertainty, Sheer Presence acts as a vital cosmopolitical tool, urging us to remain awake and engaged with the unseen forces that shape our reality.

Drawing on insights from Blaise Agüera y Arcas’ recent work, What Is Life? Evolution as Computation (MIT Press, 2025), the exhibition invites exploration of presence as a significant disruption—an intrusion from another entity that often challenges our human-centric perspective. Echoing the teachings from the ancient 8th-century Tibetan Buddhist text, Tattvasangraha, Roberts emphasizes the profound impact that entities can have on their surroundings, reshaping our perceptions of existence.

Central to this exhibition is an ancient manifestation grid, powered by six thematic “nodes”: ancestors><manifesting change. Each node confronts issues of disconnection, distraction, and destabilization, illuminating paths toward healing, creativity, and renewal. ✨

Visitors are encouraged to traverse Lines of Intention across a geometric map that reconnects us with ancestral wisdom and deep time. This sacred geometry aligns personal intentions with universal energies, with an octopus at the core—Roberts' Avatar of Manifestation, symbolizing fluidity, adaptability, and the authentic self. 🐙

The visuals in this exhibition feature crystals and hagstones, naturally formed by the ocean’s tides, serving as gateways to hidden realms. Rooted in folklore and divination, these hagstones amplify the exhibition’s resonance with multifaceted stories and frequencies, tapping into the imagination's power to ignite change. 🌌

ABOUT MAGGIE ROBERTS

Maggie Roberts is a visionary artist known for pushing the boundaries between human and machine perception throughout her career. Alongside her collaborative efforts with 0rphan Drift, which she co-founded with Ranu Mukherjee in 1994, her work has increasingly engaged with ecological themes, exploring the interconnectedness of technology, humanity, and the biosphere.
Roberts has showcased her craft via various mediums—video, 3D animation, sound, performance, and installation—and is currently examining artificial intelligence through the lens of an octopus's distributed consciousness. Highlights of her installations and performances include recent exhibitions like May the Other Live in Me in Moscow and Still I Rise: Gender, Feminisms and Resistance in Nottingham.

Maggie Roberts is also an educator at Central St Martins, UAL, teaching Fine Art Critical Studies while frequently lecturing at other UK art schools and presenting internationally on 0rphan Drift's work. She is proudly represented by IMT Gallery.

For more details on the exhibition, visit the IMT Gallery: IMT Gallery | Exhibition Details | Maggie Roberts

✨ Join us in celebrating the power of presence through art! ✨