[Nettime-bold] Time Out NY Review of Dystopia + Identity Exhbition by Reena Jana: out on newsstands today!

[cristine wang <cristinewang@yahoo.com>]

((I was just told that the Time Out NY Magazine
review of Dystopia + Identity Exhibition just
came out at newsstands, so I braved the cold +
the blistering street winds + coughed up the
$2.75 and also bought a pack of menthol cough
drops--(it's in the Dec. 28, 2000 - Jan. 4, 2001
issue).))

[For those of you who don't have access to
newsstands where a copy is available, i am
including the article here; the color photo (by
architectural interiors photographer Abel Yee)
which accompanies the review shows the "Media
Room" with (from left to right) works by John
Boone ("Self Portrait," oil on canvas), Jonas
Mekas ("Scenes From the Life of Andy Warhol,"
video), Hilary Maslon ("Boil Box," acrylic on
canvas), Jenny Marketou ("Smell Picks 2000,"
digital print), Andy Deck ("Pro-Regress," Mac
SE), Daniel Garcia Andujar ("Phoney," cd-rom),
and Shu Lea Cheang ("I.K.U. next_protocols,"
digital prints):

"Dystopia and Identity 
in the Age of Global 
Communications"
Tribes Gallery, through Jan 13 
(see elsewhere)

	"Tribes Gallery would seem an unlikely venue for
an exhibition exploring our self-awareness in a
technology-dominated era.  The lengthy show
roster includes 54 artists, some of whom are
represented by Web-based works.  But the
gallery--contrasting with the show's theme, scale
and technical requirements--is located in a
cramped, second-floor walk-up on the Lower East
Side and represents the last vestiges of the
neighborhood's low-tech funkiness.
	Yet the show works well, mainly because curator
Cristine Wang has organized the works in a way
that emphasizes the fact that Tribes doubles as
someone's home. (The gallery's owner, poet Steve
Cannon, usually hangs out on a beat-up couch.)
The front gallery is arranged as a living room,
which it is, and the works come off as elements
in a hip computer programmer's crash pad.  A
video by Jonas Mekas, which features quickly
edited scenes starring Andy Warhol, plays on a TV
within comfortable viewing distance of the couch.
 And glossy stills from Shu Lea Cheang's
cyberporn movie IKU are tacked on the wall,
hanging above a sculpture by Andy Deck consisting
of a gutted but somehow still functioning Mac SE
computer.
	A large side room functions as a "salon,"
crammed with conceptual pieces ranging from a
brilliant digital photograph--which updates a
famous Tang Dynasty scroll painting--by Chinese
artist Wang Qingsong to a goopy-looking sculpture
by Roxy Paine.  Such works make the place come
alive with playful ideas and sly wit, like a
cocktail party with a smart guest list.  Finally,
a sunroom in the rear features work addressing
nature, including Yael Kanarek's stunning digital
images of virtual environments printed on
Plexiglas; Eduardo Kac's poster of himself with a
genetically-altered bunny; and Mariah Corrigan
and Jonathan Herder's moss-and-cement
installation, which includes a video of breeding
and dying flies.
	In the end, a sense of dystopian dread emerges
as a direct result of the exhibition's homey,
casual context.  The venue reminds us that the
effects of technology are sometimes pernicious,
and reach into every aspect of daily life."					
											(Reviewed by Reena Jana)

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