While mankind has expended considerable effort pressing three-dimensional objects into the flat binary world of the Internet — think eBooks and shopping carts — less work has been done manifesting into physical realm those creations born of the Internet exclusively.
This Thursday at the Muchmore’s in Williamsburg — for one night only! — a number of Brooklyn artists will show how our Internet creations would appear in meat space, using three different mediums. Anna Li curated the exhibit, along with Morgan Shockley.
For her paintings, Al Baio recast images of babies and children that she found on Tumblr. Before these tiny creatures were able to forge their own identities online, their parents and family rushed to post photos and stories of these wee ones online. “When kids are born, they can’t exactly mobilize on the Internet just yet, so their parents create a presence for them online,” Anna said.
Baio further extends these appropriations, and in doing so, offers commentary on how we create meaning and identity from chaos.
As the title implies, Rob Sobotnik’s video “How to be a Better 21st Century Citizen,” is instructional in nature. Rob pilfered through YouTube, piecing different bits of popular self-help clips into a monster advice and technique-dispensing video montage that mocks our love for the authoritative.
“We don’t turn to books any more. We need that visual aid. [YouTube] is so accessible. You don’t have to buy a book or take a book out of the library,” Rob said.
The third artist, Martha Hipley, blends old and new media with a black light installation of movable wooden pieces. She embeds images of Internet pornography onto ancient animation technologies, such as zoopraxis-scopes and thaumatropes.
Her pieces “requires you to touch and move them in order for them to work, which is the exact sentiment for the Internet — you have to make the effort, in order to make the Internet the Internet,” Anna says.
The exhibition, IRL_URL, will also feature music and video whose creation or dissemination was helped by the Internet in some way. Members of SUPERCUTE! will do a DJ set — Tristan Viner-Brown curated the music part of the show. VJ Kyle Hiedacavage will live stream the opening, while intermixing footage of people surfing on the Internet.
IRL_URL will be held at this Thursday, December 6, 2012 from 8:00 until 10:00 PM at MuchMore’s at 2 Havemeyer Street.
