The New Normal: Private Practices
Trevor Paglen Six CIA Officers Wanted in Connection with the Abduction of Abu Omar from Milan, Italy 2007 Detail Courtesy the artist and Bellwether Gallery New York
Making its only Canadian stop in Windsor, the travelling exhibition “The New Normal,” organized by Independent Curators International, brings together an international roster of artists whose works explore elusive boundaries of the private in a post-9/11 era. Taking its cue from a comment by former US vice-president Dick Cheney, the show’s title also hints at the rise of exhibitionism in the evolving social media landscape of Facebook, Myspace, blogs and (most recently) Chatroulette. Against this backdrop, we’ve become inured to the invisible gaze of friends, neighbours and government, and we’ve acquiesced to conditions of surveillance as the order of the day. The artists in “The New Normal” use other people’s private information and images in home videos, financial data and leaked documents to offer disconcerting glimpses into the lives of others. Featuring projects by Sophie Calle, Corinna Schnitt, Kota Ezawa, Mohamed Camara, Jill Magid and others, “The New Normal” posits that access to private information is a currency whose circulation is growing and evolving in bewildering ways. Whether we find this exchange frightening or fascinating, we are complicit in its perpetuation. (401 Riverside Dr W, Windsor ON)
Eyebeam R&D (Jonah Peretti and Michael Frumin) Fundrace 2008 2008 Courtesy the artists and Huffington Post
Jennifer and Kevin McCoy Vice Presidential Downtime Requirements (formerly titled Band Rider Series: Dick Cheney) 2008 Detail Courtesy Postmasters Gallery New York
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