Artists Explore “Bleeding Edge” Technology at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art
Through May 15, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (HVCCA) presents Bleeding Edge, an exhibition that features artists who examine the problematic relationship between humans and technology. The exhibition, which is named after a term for new technologies that have a high risk of failure, will explore how global networks affect the ways in which people express intimacy, identity and history.
The works in Bleeding Edge will highlight instances in which technology fails to sustain human experience. For instance, artist Faith Holland’s photography series Queer Connections challenges the heteronormative naming of wires, which are normally separated as “male” and “female,” by using nail polish as an adhesive for unexpected unions. Kelsey Brod explores identity by revealing how the language of software retains today’s racial and gendered hierarchies. Izabela Gola includes characters in her vignettes that are ignorant of the digitized limbo they inhabit. Amanda Turner Pohan uses discarded computer monitors to hint at the growing obsolescence of the technology, as well as the aging state of its owner. Anthony Antonellis’ GIF-inspired video-works comment on the curatorial challenges of exhibiting art that is created for the internet. Eleanor King uses Google Maps to explore the wilderness that surrounds an Inuit village in northern Canada, but realizes that the computerized illustrations of the landscape are only a reminder of government surveillance and hydrocarbon exploration.
Also on display at HVCCA this spring is an exhibition, Pop Revolution, that displays collage works by legendary artist Cey Adams. The exhibition, on view from April 14 through June 8, explores corporate branding within contemporary culture. Adams layers imagery and paper elements to reinterpret recognizable brand logos from the 60s and 70s, such as Pan Am and KFC. His works invite the viewer to examine their own relationship to these iconic brands that have shaped American culture. For more info, visit hvcca.org.
A version of this article first appeared in the April issue of ArtsNews, ArtsWestchester’s monthly publication. ArtsNews is distributed throughout Westchester County. A digital copy is also available at artsw.org/artsnews.
