Janie Paul:
Gallery Project presents Imagined Communities, a multimedia exhibit in which over 20 local, regional, and national artists explore ideas of community in the digital world. Artists are challenged to represent the myriad forms of new linkages generated by social media. Social media’s exponential growth has changed the nature and structure of human relationships, from the creation of entirely new friendship groups, to fast spreading waves of political action. Traditional communities, based upon geographic locality and a purpose-built physical space are being supplemented and in some cases, supplanted, by their web-based counterparts. Just as the basic architecture of traditional communities is built upon and shifted organically based on the wants and needs of their participants, so too have social networks morphed beyond the foundations of their designers. How have we as human participants carved our own spaces out of these imagined communities, and what methodologies are artists using to create work that addresses, interfaces with and exists in this realm?
Contributors include Sarah Buckius, Jason Carter, Joseph Delappe, Rocco DePietro, Benjamin Duke, Anthony Fontana, Sarah Gilbert, Desireé Holman, Brian Kane, Juan Kasari, David Katz, Chris Lee, Kelly Salchow Macarthur, Melanie Manos, James Nollert, Janie Paul, Erica Podwoiski, Gloria Pritschet, Brian Spolans, and Colin Raymond. The exhibit is curated by Chris Lee, a professor of art at Oakland University and a collaborator of Gallery Project.
Gallery Project: 215 South Fourth Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
http://www.thegalleryproject.com/