The Upper Matrix of Human Error – Exhibition at SET Lewisham

The Upper Matrix of Human Error opens at SET Lewisham on 13 November, 6-9pm.

Bringing together new works by Associate Members, Peter McNelis and Charlie Fogg, the exhibition explores communication, paranoia, and power within the structures that shape digital and social life.

Fogg’s films dissect the mechanics of speech and narrative in digital spaces, manipulating both filmic and verbal language to expose how meaning slips even as it’s being constructed. His fragmented scripts and narrators—whether real or artificial—highlight the instability of communication, particularly when filtered through systems designed to distort and replicate.

McNelis’ film, drawing, textual, and sculptural works are structured around performances of legal and social contracts, and the fictions that underpin them.

Together, their works critique the technologies and networks of power that govern contemporary visual culture. Rather than dismissing those caught within conspiratorial or paranoid thinking, they explore how such ideologies emerge from systems of alienation and control.

Paranoia becomes a defining condition of both production and spectatorship, and yet, within the texts and images they sample, the artists uncover traces of humanity; in the awkward politeness of British speech, the familiar banality of work and consumption, and in moments of humour.

Exhibition details

Private view: 13 November, 6–9pm
Exhibition dates: 13-25 November
Times: Wednesday-Friday, 4.30–8pm; Saturday-Sunday, 12-6pm
Location: SET Lewisham, Unit 1, Lewisham Retail Park, Loampit Vale, London SE13 7RZ
Tickets: Free entry. No need for appointments.

This exhibition is realised with support from the Exhibitions Hub, Department of Art, Goldsmiths College.

---

Artists

Peter McNelis @l15.pmcne

Peter McNelis (b. Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2000) makes work concerned with internal structures of ideology and nationhood, and the naive actors who perform and make them external. He received a BA in Fine Art and History of Art from Goldsmiths in 2023.

Charlie Fogg @charlienewfbfogg 

Charlie Fogg (b. Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2000) works primarily with digital moving- image. His works interrogate narrative forms, exploring themes of the post-internet condition and its effect on everyday life. He received a BA in Fine Art from Manchester School of Art.