The work they bring to this show explores the tentative connections between the often random and erratic thought processes of human beings multiplexing with the deterministic and “programmed” logic of the machine. How can a machine that relies upon “logic” represent the human condition, that is often associated with such un-machine-like qualities as hope, fear, dread, loneliness, humor, boredom, and other human traits? What is the relationship between our expanding electronic metaverse and our emotional, accidental, non-linear human lives? Alexa Ann Bonomo, Glenda Drew, Jesse Drew and William Mead bring together a collection of work that includes textiles and fabrics, video monitors, computers, software programming, three-dimensional dioramas, and augmented reality that try to contemplate the tenuous relationship between memory and consciousness, linearity and non-linearity, intentionality and randomness.
The pieces in this body of work use multiple juxtapositions to pose questions about the tenuous relationship between human expression and generative programming presented through an electronic technological medium.
Formal elements of light, pattern, time and transformation rub up against personal imagery and writings related to those formal themes. The tension this creates can be both beautiful and off-putting; it can be delightful and disappointing. The juxtaposition of the formal structure of programming and logic as well as the very structured approach to the haiku-like poems is pitted against randomness and raises questions of intentionality and consciousness, while encouraging the viewer to be contemplative and search for their own meanings.
Inspired by the experimentation and approach to the implementation of technology in the work of Moholy-Nagy, I see in him a kindred spirit, who was less concerned with standard labels of art than he was in pursuing his vision. I aspire to the fluidity with which Moholy-Nagy shifted between art, design, writing and other creative media.
“Designing is not a profession but an attitude... Thinking in relationships.” – László Moholy-Nagy
This work is created from sets of videos that play full screen on a web page. They layer on top of the other, and as the videos finish, they are removed from the page and others are added. Because of the random layering and the random use of blend modes, the pieces evolve and change over time and are never quite the same.
In addition, each piece as 12 poems, written in haiku format, related to the theme of the pieces: light, pattern, time and change. After these poems play through once, they are also remixed so they change over time too.
Alexa Ann Bonomo is an interactive artist and designer, and lecturer at the University of California, Davis. She has presented her work at various exhibitions and conferences including the Exploratorium, Gray Area Foundation of the Arts, The Manetti Shrem Museum, and International Symposium for Electronic Arts. Her design practice consists of interdisciplinary processes within new media, computation, and psychology. She observes the creation of countless avatars that represent a self digitally and on the internet. Alexa turns marks, pixels, and computer memory left behind and uses them as an artistic medium to reveal substance and personal meaning that is normally left unrevealed and forgotten.
Glenda Drew’s research is based at the intersections of visual culture and social change, with a particular emphasis on the working class. Her subjects include country musicians, waitresses, feminists and precarious workers. Her practice is multifaceted in form and includes film/video, motion graphics, photography, graphics, interactivity and audience participation. Drew was an active member of Paper Tiger Television in San Francisco for several years, a defining experience that continues to anchor and shape her work, from the DIY aesthetic and approach aimed at unpacking media technologies, to creating accessible work that asks critical questions. Drew exhibits her work nationally and internationally. Her work has been featured in Leonardo, Bitch! and The Washington Post. She is currently a Professor of Design specializing in digital media at UC Davis.
Jesse Drew’s research and practice centers on alternative and community media and their impact on democratic societies, with a particular emphasis on the global working class. An active audio-visual artist, his interactive, video, photography and installation work has been featured at festivals and in galleries internationally. His writings have appeared in numerous publications, journals and anthologies, including Resisting the Virtual Life (City Lights Press), At a Distance (MIT Press), Collectivism After Modernism (University of Minnesota), and West of Eden (PM Press). His book, A Social History of Contemporary Democratic Media is published by Routledge. He is currently professor of Cinema and Digital Media at UC Davis, where he teaches media archaeology, radio production, documentary studies, electronics for artists, and community media. Before coming to UC Davis he headed the Center for Digital Media and was Associate Dean at the San Francisco Art Institute.
Below are some screenshots from my pieces in the show, but you can see the actual pieces in action by clicking the links below.
NOTE: Due to the intensive requirements for layering video in real time, these pieces should be viewed on a computer, not a mobile device. Also Safari web browser chokes on the .webp videos, so use either Chrome or Firefox.
