Brian Conley   Decipherment of Linear X 15 October - 15 November, 2004 Gallery 1 + 2 Accompanying book available: see details below See the installation     Pierogi is delighted to present an exhibition of new work by Brian Conley. Decipherment of Linear X is a mix of art installation and scientific display which engages, through fact and fiction, questions about the nature of intelligence, the origins of language, and the possibility of animal consciousness. This project centers around several dozen wooden sticks unearthed by Conley in upstate New York between 1998 and 2004. These sticks are covered with elaborate incisions or marks. The marks have a striking calligraphic quality, and are often variants of an "X" formation. When he first discovered them, Conley thought these sticks were American Indian artifacts, covered with pictographs or symbols of some kind. He later found that they had been carved by a species of beetle, the Scolytidae. This apparent shift between human and animal origin then gave rise to another surprising observation: the markings look much like a script or proto-language. In fact, the marks are similar to those comprising one of the earliest written languages, Minoan Linear B, which was in use in Crete between 1600 and 1100 BC, and was deciphered by the amateur linguist Michael Ventris in a famous coup of cryptographic insight in 1953. Engaging these histories and relationships in an extended thought experiment, conley's exhibition presents the beetle's incisions as intentional marks which constitute an unknown proto-language - Linear X. The exhibition will consist of ceramic tablets showing the incised Linear X symbols in relief, similar to impressions made by Sumerian cylinder seals; close-up photographs of individual symbols; and an example of an incised stick. An integral part of the exhibition is the Decipherment of Linear X, a journal featuring articles by linguists, artificial intelligence experts, historians, poets, and others responding to the Linear X inscriptions; contributors include Anne Carson, Alexander Marshack, Frances Richard, Michael Ryan, David Serlin, Luc Steels and Marina Warner. Also included are essays by Jorge Luis Borges and Charles Darwin. A limited-edition hard-bound version of the journal will include a CD with a recording by Conley and Mario de Vega - documenting an attempt to identify the sonic communication patterns of Scolytidae - and a signed drawing by the artist of a member of the Scolytidae family.       Linear X symbol detail       Linear X symbol detail   Decipherment of Linear X accompanying journal features the following authors/articles: Jean Luis Borges – The Library of Babel Anne Carson – Detail From the Tomb of the Diver (Paestrum 500 – 453 BC) Second Detail Charles Darwin – The Power of Movement of Plants Alexander Marshack – The Meander as a System: Iconographic Units in Upper Paleolithic Compositions Thomas Palaima – On Michael Ventris and Linear B Frances Richard – The Tongue Not Made For Speech: Paradise Lost and Alternative Consciousness Michael Ryan – The Ambrosia Beetle David Serlin – Etymology Recapitulates Entomology Luc Steels – The Origins of Intelligence Marina Warner – Conversation on Darwin's Power of Movement in Plants     to view other Brian Conley works: Fragments of a Future Science Fiction Movie, art 33 Basel (2002) Statements Pseudanuran Gigantica, Art 33 Basel (2002) Unlimited, (an ArtPace Commission) Crocodylus/Salmo
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	P   I   E   R   O   G   I     2   0   0   0 177 north 9th street brooklyn, ny 11211 718.599.2144 noon to 6p friday through monday and by appointment pierogi 2000 is an innovative art gallery in williamsburg, brooklyn, new york