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Artists include Peter Burr, Petra Cortright, Milton Melvin Croissant III, Elektra KB, Claire Evans, Faith Holland, Dina Kelberman, Kidmograph (Gustavo Torres), Sara Ludy, Lauren Pelc-McArthur, Alex McLeod, Ying Miao, Jonathan Monaghan, Hugo Moreno, Brenna Murphy, Eva Papamargariti, Robby Rackleff, Sam Rolfes, Nicolas Sassoon, Jacolby Satterwhite, Hito Steyerl, Małgosia Woźnica (V5MT), Wickerham & Lomax, Clement Valla and Giselle Zatonyl.
Curated by Art F City’s Paddy Johnson, Michael Anthony Farley & Rea McNamara.
Providence College—Galleries is pleased to announce the launch of its inaugural online exhibition Geographically Indeterminate Fantasies: The Animated GIF as Place. This online exhibition—permanently installed within the PC–G website—marks the Galleries’ new commitment to supporting and showcasing digital and web-based artistic practices as integral disciplines within the realms of contemporary art and education.
Guest curated by critics from the renowned arts blog Art F City (http://artfcity.com/), this group exhibition showcases the work of more than 25 artists who use animated GIFs to present fully realized environments. With over 100 animated GIFs on display, the exhibition serves as both a vision of artists’ new worlds, and as a document of our own reality’s aspirations and anxieties.
Organized by GIFs as web pages, GIFs as stand alone images, and GIFs as series, the show tracks a number of themes: the city as a network of personal and social spaces, the personification of the landscape as avatar, the browser or more broadly, the digital as space, and the ubiquitous battlefield. The artists assembled use a variety of techniques to address these subjects ranging from 3D rendered work to collage and video-sourced GIFs. Additionally, Providence College—Galleries, under the advisement of Art F City, commissioned new works for the occasion, all by established artists working in the field—Jonathan Monaghan, Giselle Zatonyl, Brenna Murphy and Clement Valla present landscape GIFs, while artist and writer Claire Evans presents a related reading list.
This increased interest in creating new worlds can be linked to a rise in freely available rendering software; it is now easier than ever not only to imagine new worlds, but to also build them online. It is difficult, however, not to also see this approach through the lens of the generational anxieties of their makers: Powerlessness in the face of climate change, a nearly-nomadic lifestyle as a result of gentrification, and the ever-accelerating changes in natural and built environments. As always, art addresses the world around us, and Geographically Indeterminate Fantasies ultimately reflects the challenges and opportunities inherent in artists’ responses.
Conjunctive program:
IRL installation at GRIN
June 4–July 2, 2016
Reception: Saturday, June 4, 6–10pm
GRIN
60 Valley Street #3
Providence, RI 02909
Geographically Indeterminate Fantasies includes an “in real life” component: PC–G is partnering with GRIN, a contemporary art space in Providence, to present a month-long installation of a selection of the online exhibition’s GIFs within GRIN’s white-cube gallery and adjacent industrial spaces. The public reception coincides with the opening weekend of PVD Fest, Providence’s annual celebration of local and international art.
About Providence College—Galleries
Providence College—Galleries presents exhibitions, digital productions and public programs focusing on contemporary art, innovative artistic practice and interdisciplinary cultural activity. Operating within two gallery spaces as part of the Department of Art & Art History, PC–G supports the liberal arts and community-oriented mission of the College with dynamic visual arts productions, including those that foster audience participation, cross-departmental collaboration at the College and cultural exchange at local, national and international levels.
Major support for Geographically Indeterminate Fantasies is provided by the Art & Art History Department at Providence College, with additional support from the ADDD Fund administered by the Rhode Island Foundation. Using the new PC–G visual identity created by Google’s Brand Studio members Ken Frederick and Katherine Walker, the online exhibition is designed by Will Brand of Brooklyn Web Developers and the exhibition logo is designed by Tony Halmos.
Providence College—Galleries
Hunt-Cavanagh Gallery at Hunt-Cavanagh Hall,
Reilly Gallery at the Smith Center for the Arts
