24 Jul — 09 Oct 2021
The Exchange
REVEALING THE INTERCONNECTS BETWEEN ONLINE CULTURE AND HUMAN LIFE
Following a year in which we have all become more reliant on digital technologies than we could ever previously have imagined, Outside The Algorithm investigates digital culture, questioning our position as online observers and dares to ask what has this accelerated reliance on technology done for our mental health?
The exhibition offers a stimulating space for interaction and reflection, with a range of media and artworks including interactive projections, a controversial electric-acoustic radio album, experimental film from international female artists, creative coding and meditative GIFs.
Artists and works featured include Damjanski, who describes himself as ‘a contemporary artist living in a browser’, and uses his Bye Bye Camera app as an artistic tool. The app allows him to explore photographic moments, capturing portions of the surroundings whilst erasing any human presence. This Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool detects and removes body shapes but keeps human traces such as the shadows.
Martin Vargic, Slovakian author and artist is best known for his Map of the Internet (2014) originally inspired by a map of the internet created by xkcd showing the most popular social networks as countries and regions, back in 2010. The map is divided between software companies, gaming companies and some of the more real-life oriented websites.
Award-winning interdisciplinary artist Rhiannon Armstrong presents The Slow GIF Movement. Rhiannon brings her own and other people’s lived experience of neurodivergence to an understanding of how GIF culture is currently increasing the hostility of online spaces, and seeks to rectify that with the creation of calming, gently looping GIFs. Rhiannon will also host a workshop around online practice which focuses on an artist-led response to online landscapes.
Chez Conversations, an all-female arts collective, present The Age of Misinformation; a short film by Liza Voloshin that explores how technology alters our senses. The film features poetry by Cleo Wade, music by Margot and Mia Moretti and psychology research by Kate Greer.
From Keiken, the Life Game is an interactive series about people who find themselves lost, lonely, and surrounded by self-centered technologies. The series explores their whirlwind relationship as they become more dependent on screens and metamorphosise into both the unknown and the forgotten.
Chroma Culture by Sam Meech is an interactive installation that combines optical video feedback, digital video processing and projection mapping to create an evolving interface that recalls the behaviour of micro-organisms in a petri dish. You are invited to play and influence the colours and shapes, which are linked to a sound library, creating a shifting composition that can be easily shaped by the user.
Cyber feminist Laurence Rassel and trans-activist Terre Thaemlitz present an excerpt from their electro-acoustic radio drama album (with spoken word), which examines gender politics and features Peggy Phelan, the American feminist scholar. The cutting-edge work was deemed so controversial that German Public Radio banned it from broadcast.
Peter Freeman, an international lighting artist based in West Cornwall creates light sculptures and light installations using neon and LEDs, including the epic illuminated glass façade of The Exchange. For this show he has been commissioned to create bespoke lighting inspired by gaming desk and lighting aesthetics.
Outside The Algorithm is curated by Heather Pasfield, Programme Producer (Digital)
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QUIET TIME visits are available on Tuesday mornings 10.00 – 12.00
Booking essential
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Inspired by a new wave of young creatives forging their practice through online platforms, this exhibition is hosting a programme of creative workshops for young audiences to develop digital skills throughout the summer.
In partnership with Yew! Magazine and supported by Cultivator the workshops include introductions on how to sell and make NFTs, and how to start your own podcast.
Venue: The Exchange
Find on Map
Open: TUE - SAT, 10.00 - 16.00
Closed: SUN & MON
Follow the Exhibition
Twitter: @newlynexchange
Instagram: @newlynexchange
