The current exhibition at The Suzanne Geiss Company isn't at the gallery space on Grand Street in Manhattan—it's in your computer. Every week until September 1st, a different artist or group takes over the SUZANNEGEISS.NET. The bunch of innovative, emerging multimedia artists includes AH HOLE AH HOLE, Joshua Citarella, Mariah Dekkenga, Owen Kydd, Petrella’s Imports, PplSft, Emily Segal, and Analisa Bien Teachworth. So yes, you can view the show in the comfort of your own office chair. Now isn't that cool?
Okay, I lie. You could still go to the gallery, mostly for the real-life installation topping off the digital project––a piece created by Soho's favorite newsstand, PETRELLA’S IMPORTS. I asked the curator Emily Ludwig Shaffer a few questions about the groundbreaking digital-meets-IRL series.
Shannan Elinor Smith: What role do you think digital media plays in shaping the way we consume contemporary art?
Emily Ludwig Schaffer: For myself and most other artists I know, the experience of seeing certain shows in person is still invaluable. However, the reality of being able to visit every show I want is impossible, and the Internet has exposed me to work and shows I otherwise could not see. It's a paradox in that where digital media allows us to virtually experience so many more things, it also reminds us of our physical, financial, and time-based limitations. We see a lot of compelling Internet-based and physical works today that attempt to address these tensions.
Because digital media is more familiar and accessible to a larger audience than the traditional gallery or museum, we are seeing "more artists than ever before"––or so I'm told. Today, the number of visitors to the actual gallery space is so much fewer than the number of people who will digest the shows online. Galleries and artists are realizing this more and more, and we see this reflected in the work and exhibitions. In Michael Sanchez’s recent article "2011," he talks about how galleries have become this "Contemporary Art Daily" space; often art and exhibitions feel like they were made, curated, and lighted specifically to be reproduced for online venues.
The content of the Suzanne Geiss domain is chosen by the artist who takes it over. Is this sort of like having the artist curate their own show?
It can be, but not necessarily. I invited a group of artists who I thought would each respond uniquely to the suzanngeiss.net premise. AH HOLE AH HOLE and Petrella's Imports' weeks felt like mini-curated exhibitions within the larger show, but Joshua Citarella and Owen Kydd, for instance, used it as an opportunity to exhibit a single piece.
Why did you pick this specific group of artists for the project?
As mentioned previously, I wanted to invite a range of emerging artists and groups who would address the site’s parameters from a number of different angles. Some had preexisting online projects, others had sensibilities I was curious to see react to this project. For instance: Joshua Citarella is adept with photography, digital tools, and coding and we see this medium-fluidity in his work; Emily Segal, a member of the collective K-HOLE and a strategist at Wolff Olins, makes work on contemporary art, branding, and cultural memetics; Owen Kydd’s durational photographs (videos) take cues from the democratization of image-making in the smart phone age; Edward Marshall Shenk uses ubiquitous online platforms such as Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook as an extension of his studio practice.
Can you touch on the Petrella’s installation? Why did you
Okay, I lie. You could still go to the gallery, mostly for the real-life installation topping off the digital project––a piece created by Soho's favorite newsstand, PETRELLA’S IMPORTS. I asked the curator Emily Ludwig Shaffer a few questions about the groundbreaking digital-meets-IRL series.
Shannan Elinor Smith: What role do you think digital media plays in shaping the way we consume contemporary art?
Emily Ludwig Schaffer: For myself and most other artists I know, the experience of seeing certain shows in person is still invaluable. However, the reality of being able to visit every show I want is impossible, and the Internet has exposed me to work and shows I otherwise could not see. It's a paradox in that where digital media allows us to virtually experience so many more things, it also reminds us of our physical, financial, and time-based limitations. We see a lot of compelling Internet-based and physical works today that attempt to address these tensions.
Because digital media is more familiar and accessible to a larger audience than the traditional gallery or museum, we are seeing "more artists than ever before"––or so I'm told. Today, the number of visitors to the actual gallery space is so much fewer than the number of people who will digest the shows online. Galleries and artists are realizing this more and more, and we see this reflected in the work and exhibitions. In Michael Sanchez’s recent article "2011," he talks about how galleries have become this "Contemporary Art Daily" space; often art and exhibitions feel like they were made, curated, and lighted specifically to be reproduced for online venues.
The content of the Suzanne Geiss domain is chosen by the artist who takes it over. Is this sort of like having the artist curate their own show?
It can be, but not necessarily. I invited a group of artists who I thought would each respond uniquely to the suzanngeiss.net premise. AH HOLE AH HOLE and Petrella's Imports' weeks felt like mini-curated exhibitions within the larger show, but Joshua Citarella and Owen Kydd, for instance, used it as an opportunity to exhibit a single piece.
Why did you pick this specific group of artists for the project?
As mentioned previously, I wanted to invite a range of emerging artists and groups who would address the site’s parameters from a number of different angles. Some had preexisting online projects, others had sensibilities I was curious to see react to this project. For instance: Joshua Citarella is adept with photography, digital tools, and coding and we see this medium-fluidity in his work; Emily Segal, a member of the collective K-HOLE and a strategist at Wolff Olins, makes work on contemporary art, branding, and cultural memetics; Owen Kydd’s durational photographs (videos) take cues from the democratization of image-making in the smart phone age; Edward Marshall Shenk uses ubiquitous online platforms such as Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook as an extension of his studio practice.
Can you touch on the Petrella’s installation? Why did you