Narcissism, the Real, the Fake and the Anti-Digital Impulse is a group exhibition that explores the paradoxical anti-digital impulse and its relationship to the human desire and nostalgia for the “authentic” and the “real.” Despite the proliferation of digital technology and a cultural dependence on digital reproduction and interfacing, there exists a lingering anti-digital impulse – one inextricably tied to presumptions about what is “real and/or authentic”, and what is “fake and/or inauthentic.” These presumptions seem defined by an anthropocentric and narcissistic logic. Is this impulse to discover uniqueness and monolithic meaning ultimately narcissistic? While we may understand that the “real” physically and semiotically changes with time, do we long for and expect stasis – the security and simplicity of binary logic?
With each passing decade, the distinction between digital and analog media has become increasingly irrelevant in the field of the arts due to the technological advancements that have enabled digital processes to imitate, produce, and/or reproduce the “real” with astonishing detail and accuracy. However, information is inevitably lost with each generation of reproduction, so preserving the integrity of that first generation is in many cases insignificant and irrelevant. The question at stake then is not found in the debate centering on quality or technical superiority of one process over the other, but rather what these processes tell us about ourselves. The exhibition brings together artists across interdisciplinary fields who are invested in examining the historic, political, social and cultural discourses which spring from these questions.
Organized by Biddy Tran, the exhibition includes works by Brice Bischoff, Anoka Faruqee, Zach Kleyn, Seth Lower, Nikhil Murthy, Karina Nimmerfall, Javier Proenza and Biddy Tran.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Cirrus will publish a full color catalogue, which will include an essay on the exhibition by Claudia Slanar and a catalogue essay by Biddy Tran.