Carroll/Fletcher is currently presenting ‘Dense Mesh’, a group exhibition of seven artists exploring technological progression in society via a collective response to Czech-born philosopher, writer and journalist Vilem Flusser’s book ‘Into the Universe of Technical Images’. Described as society ‘Poised between hope and despair for a humanity facing an urgent communication crisis, forecasting either the first truly human, infinitely creative society in history or a society of unbearable, oppressive sameness, locked in a pattern it cannot change’.
Image: Hannah Levy, Untitled, 2015, Carroll/Fletcher. Photo: P A Black © 2016.
Flusser posited the theory that “We are the first generation to command the power to envision in the strict sense of the word, and all vision, imagination, and fictions of the past must pale in comparison to our images. We are about to reach a level of consciousness in which the search for deep coherence, explanation, enumeration, narration, and calculation, in short, and historical, scientific, and textually linear thinking is being surpassed by a new, visionary, superficial mode of thinking.”
Image: Michael Jones McKean, three carbon tons, 2016, Carroll/Fletcher. Photo: P A Black © 2016.
The group exhibition highlights Flusser’s concept of the global totalitarian apparatus, hypothesized in 1985, positing that it has in fact come to fruition; but can communications technology serve as a vehicle for social change? How does one negotiate the envisioning power of technical images, which unlocks an unprecedented degree of creative agency for humanity, against what appears to be the immanent downwards trajectory of human value through technological progression?
Image: Ryan Lauderdale, flora extrusion/funerary, 2016, detail, Carroll/Fletcher. Photo: P A Black © 2016.
About the artists:
Ryan Lauderdale (b. 1979, Cushing, USA) lives and works in New York, USA. Solo shows include Bed Bath & Beyond, NUDASHANK, Baltimore, USA (2011) and Real life Realm, CoLab, Austin, USA (2010). Recent group exhibitions include Making an Entrance, LVL3/Robert Blumenthal, New York; Drawing Show, Sadie Halie Projects, New York; << < > >> (Vol. 2), SuperDakota, Brussels (all 2015); Another Place, Hunter College 205 Street Gallery, New York; and KANSAS, New York (both 2014).
Hannah Levy (b. 1991, New York, USA) lives and works in New York, USA. Solo shows include Live in yours, play in ours, Galerie Parisa Kind, Frankfurt, Germany; Basic Essentials, Allen and Eldridge at James Fuentes Gallery, New York (both 2015); and Vegetative State, Galerie Parisa Kind Deuxième Bureau, Frankfurt, Germany (2014). Recent group shows include Soft Costs | Money over World | meadows, Kunstverein Wiesen, Germany (2016); EVA, Interstate, New York; And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon, 247365, New York; and What Came of Picking Flowers, Motel, New York (all 2016).
Michael Jones McKean (b. 1976, Micronesia) lives and works in New York, USA. Recent exhibitions include the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USA; Parc Saint Leger Centre d’art Contemporain, Nevers, France; Horton Gallery, New York; The Quebec Biennale, Quebec City, Canada; Gentili Apri, Berlin, Germany; The Art Foundation, Athens, Greece; Inman Gallery, Houston, USA; Parisian Laundry, Montreal, Canada; Project Gentili, Prato, Italy; Shenkar University, Tel Aviv, Israel; The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, USA; and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA.
Artists: Lisha Bai, Ryan Lauderdale, Hannah Levy, Michael Jones McKean, Wyatt Niehaus, Kate Steciw, and Chris Wiley – Curated by Joshua Citarella
Lead image: Ryan Lauderdale, flora extrusion/funerary, 2016, Carroll/Fletcher. Photo: P A Black © 2016
Dense Mesh – Carroll/Fletcher – until 25 May 2016