I was just told that the Time Out NY Magazine review of Dystopia + Identity
Exhibition just came out at newsstands, so I braved the cold + the blistering
street winds + coughed up the $2.75 and also bought a pack of menthol cough
drops--(it's in the Dec. 28, 2000 - Jan. 4, 2001 issue).
[For those of you who don't have access to newsstands where a copy is
available, i am including the article here; the color photo (by architectural
interiors photographer Abel Yee) which accompanies the review shows the
"Media Room" with (from left to right) works by John Boone ("Self Portrait,"
oil on canvas), Jonas Mekas ("Scenes From the Life of Andy Warhol," video),
Hilary Maslon ("Boil Box," acrylic on canvas), Jenny Marketou ("Smell Picks
2000," digital print), Andy Deck ("Pro-Regress," Mac SE), Daniel Garcia
Andujar ("Phoney," cd-rom), and Shu Lea Cheang ("I.K.U. next_protocols,"
digital prints):
"Dystopia and Identity
in the Age of Global
Communications"
Tribes Gallery, through Jan 13
(see elsewhere)
"Tribes Gallery would seem an unlikely venue for an exhibition exploring
our self-awareness in a technology-dominated era. The lengthy show roster
includes 54 artists, some of whom are represented by Web-based works. But
the gallery--contrasting with the show's theme, scale and technical
requirements--is located in a cramped, second-floor walk-up on the Lower East
Side and represents the last vestiges of the neighborhood's low-tech
funkiness.
Yet the show works well, mainly because curator Cristine Wang has
organized the works in a way that emphasizes the fact that Tribes doubles as
someone's home. (The gallery's owner, poet Steve Cannon, usually hangs out on
a beat-up couch.) The front gallery is arranged as a living room, which it
is, and the works come off as elements in a hip computer programmer's crash
pad. A video by Jonas Mekas, which features quickly edited scenes starring
Andy Warhol, plays on a TV within comfortable viewing distance of the couch.
And glossy stills from Shu Lea Cheang's cyberporn movie IKU are tacked on the
wall, hanging above a sculpture by Andy Deck consisting of a gutted but
somehow still functioning Mac SE computer.
A large side room functions as a "salon," crammed with conceptual pieces
ranging from a brilliant digital photograph--which updates a famous Tang
Dynasty scroll painting--by Chinese artist Wang Qingsong to a goopy-looking
sculpture by Roxy Paine. Such works make the place come alive with playful
ideas and sly wit, like a cocktail party with a smart guest list. Finally, a
sunroom in the rear features work addressing nature, including Yael Kanarek's
stunning digital images of virtual environments printed on Plexiglas; Eduardo
Kac's poster of himself with a genetically-altered bunny; and Mariah Corrigan
and Jonathan Herder's moss-and-cement installation, which includes a video of
breeding and dying flies.
In the end, a sense of dystopian dread emerges as a direct result of the
exhibition's homey, casual context. The venue reminds us that the effects of
technology are sometimes pernicious, and reach into every aspect of daily
life."
(Reviewed by Reena Jana)
