#rawhope of Artistic Mediation
The following works of art have been inserted into the locus of the turbulent political landscape we find ourselves in today. In times of crisis, the artistic lens scans and illuminates the horizon of a world disordered by the ravages of authoritarianism, cynicism, nationalism, disinformation, climate change, racial violence and numerous other threats to global well-being. These acts represent #rawhope. Share them.
Western Flag depicts the site of the 'Lucas Gusher' - the world's first major oil find - in Spindletop, Texas in 1901, now barren and exhausted. Sites Unseen blurs the lines between art, science, and investigative journalism to construct unfamiliar and at times unsettling ways to see and interpret the world around us. An intervention in the attention economy of advertising by social media influencers, looking at the language of the photographic medium on Instagram. LigoranoReese installed a 2500 pound ice sculpture of the word Truth on the National Mall in front of the U.S. Capitol as it melted away. Epicurean Endocrinology uses food and vernacular cooking to examine the intersections of food production and endocrine disruptors as they relate to biopolitics. Shadow Stalker gives visitors a chilling sense of their own vulnerability to data-mining when entering the installation: fetching biographical data, names of friends, loved ones, before spitting out a data shadow. Border Tuner is a large-scale, participatory art installation designed to interconnect the cities of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. The Game:The Game is a feminist video game presenting an exploration of consent and the politics, tactics and practices of the male pick-up artist and seduction community. Forensic Architecture’s submission for the 2019 Whitney Biennial included an extensive investigation into the use of tear gas and bullets manufactured by companies led by Warren Kanders, a Whitney Museum vice chair. My Little Big Data is a reflection on the insoluble link between public and private life, on the idea of privacy, on the invisible traces that we unknowingly disseminate in the network every time we connect. Ghost Forest is a towering grove of spectral cedar trees that brings into focus the consequences and ravages of climate change on woodlands around the world. Hasan Elahi performs 24/7 tracking of his geo-spatial coordinates as an act of self-espionage, giving up his data as a subversive performance that engages and critiques issues of surveillance and privacy.
