Text by CLOT Magazine
As a reflection on the social distancing phenomenon caused by the global pandemic and its consequent influence on individuals and society’s emotional sphere, the synthesis gallery presents FEELINGS, a digital exhibition curated by Jeffrey Grunthaner and George Vitale. Launched on November 19th, 2020 and running through February 21st, 2021, the show features six artists with a heterogeneous practice. Specifically, it combines works by aaajiao, Matthew Gantt, Claudia Hart, LaJuné McMillian, Martina Menegon and Kathi Schulz.
The gaze on the intangibility that fills the virtual dimension through the provision of new formats of interaction and togetherness is the red thread binding the displayed works, accessed on Mozilla Hubs. The virtual platform is designed to allow visitors to move and connect within a shared simulated space.
Events and walkthroughs are planned throughout the whole opening period, encouraging participation and accompanying viewers across the virtual space and its inherent applications. The Fountain, a site-specific durational performance composed by Matthew Gantt, is the upcoming appointment that will be live on January 21st at 20:00 CET. It will be available continuously through the following day, simultaneously recorded and subsequently archived.
For 24 hours, both sonically and visually generative work, conceived as an expansion of the artist’s centrepiece of the show, will shape minimalist forms and aggregations unfolding in a loop of synaesthetic perpetual mutations. Visitors are invited to participate in the event by contributing a sound, thus extending the idea of collectivity at the core of the exhibition’s purpose.
Currently, the value of freedom fostered by the digital world is severely challenged by the impossibility of fully experiencing the world in physical proximity with multiple others. Virtuality has invaded our daily lives and emotional sphere, delineating a dimension of mediated and filtered exchanges. How our interiority and identities are exposed, communicated and shared fades into perception. Nevertheless, in such a landscape dwells, the potential of activating alternative forms of consciousness and creating communities. FEELINGS takes a step in this direction.
