From this point forward

Kiki & Bouba galleries at weatherproof

Chicago, IL 2022

Low Fidelity, 2021

15 vintage acrylic AM radio photo cubes, light powered rotating platforms, 60 Polaroid 600 photos using custom lens. 4 x 4 x 7.5 inches each

 "From This Point Forward brings together five artists hurdling towards a future that’s both beyond our comprehension and already too familiar. As the digital age stretches on, blurring the line between past, present, and future, we’re left to wonder. How long has it been like this? How much more can we take? Did things used to be better? Are they getting worse? Working in video, sculpture, fibers, and new media, these artists address issues of time, memory, and culture in a societal landscape shaped by unprecedented technological power.”

-Kiki & Bouba Galleries

Low Fidelity, consists of fifteen vintage AM transistor radio photo cubes, and 60 Polaroid 600 film photographs taken using a multi-image lens. They rotate atop solar-powered platforms to allow an uninterrupted 360-degree view. The radios play simultaneously; their signal strengths vary and are highly susceptible to interference from passing electronics and each other, which leads to highly unpredictable and often low audio fidelity. 

 

Each of these photos illustrates a snapshot of the cerebral procedures by which we process and store memories. It’s the memory and the moment either in the midst of merging into one or being split in two; the fractured reinvention of a once-clear event. When coupled with the AM transistor radio cubes the nostalgic reach of the photos is amplified. Like Polaroid photography, from the golden age of radio to the kitsch resurgence in the 60s and 70s, the small but powerful portable transistor radio has etched itself into the public memory. 

The resulting interactivity from the curation of the photos in each radio cube manifests itself as a cognitive glitch in which everyones’ equally flawed memories of a past event are competing for airwaves, resulting in signal interference and distorting the true memory even further. It is one, or many, minds attempting to create a single cohesive, convincing narrative to accept as the truth.