(as Natl-Svgs w/ Andrew Mount)
puredata-patch, web-camera, digital projector, mixed-media
interactive event & temporary site installation March 2012 @ Radiator Gallery, Queens, NY
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We have learned a lot from OWS, although we might also say that what we have learned, we already knew. The treatment of the press came as no surprise, nor did the epithets of local and national politicians, clamoring for space in the media limelight.
Art has been thought to be at the heart of this protest all along. There have been artists within the protest, organizing and supporting, while others weave their work amongst the protesters and throngs of pedestrians. Many people have viewed the protest itself as an artwork; its status of becoming, rather than a fixed or defined being, resonates with particular meaning in such identifications. Art of course can accommodate such moments, and through this hospitality can offer to change somewhat to enable the work itself to be done. Perhaps the relevance of art today is bundled with its realization as a tool for the masses. We can look through the recent history of art to find several points of identification with this notion.
“Of, By, For” uses these ideas as its starting point. This work requires the interruption of the public in order for it to become legible. In order to construct a work aimed at reflection, “Of, By, For” uses the very same tools that the media and the policing authorities used against the protesters. Using pure data and projections, images are displayed either highly effected or clear and lucid. The interaction with this work creates legibility in its imagery. Ignoring or walking away from the work makes the images become distorted, effected, biased.
Natl Svgs have aimed to attenuate the circumstance of the protest as media frenzy, and in doing so, instigate a wider discussion about the position of citizenry, as we know it. The images that the work is constituted with are screenshots taken over a six-hour period from November 17, 2011. They are taken from a streamed reportage captured in NYC on the two-month anniversary of the Zuccotti Park’s occupation. One of the members of the protest walked the city in support of the OWS 2 month celebration, and streamed the images live.
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