THE VOID
MediaLive, (May 2017)curator
The Void examined how networked technologies both alleviate and exacerbate feelings of the unknown. It interrogated the spaces vacated and filled by the ubiquity of non-human intelligences, virtual worlds, online platforms, and robotics.
In The NeverEnding Story, a mysterious force called The Nothing threatens to take over Fantasia, growing stronger from the loss of citizens’ hopes and dreams. In 2017, many outside and within the US also feared looming unknowns such as climate change, large-scale violence, and loss of healthcare. Meanwhile, networked technologies continued to hover in an unfamiliar territory of their own, increasing connectedness while enabling loss of privacy or potentially elections, filling emptinesses while compounding anxieties. The Void asked: What can we hold onto in times of uncertainty? Can faith be restored when all is contested? How do technologies alleviate or exacerbate the unfamiliar?
The Void was the 2017 edition of MediaLive, an annual international festival of media arts and culture at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA), which I curated from 2016-2021. The festival, which includes an exhibition, performances, screenings, workshops, panel discussions, and other events, takes place at BMoCA as well as in multiple venues throughout the city of Boulder. It draws an average of over 2,000 visitors annually and, during my tenure, garnered hundreds of individual mentions in intenrational, national, and local publications, including: The Guardian, Vanity Fair, NY Magazine, Colorado Public Radio, ARTNET, USA Today, New York Daily News, NME Magazine, VICE Media, CBS News, The Today Show, GQ Magazine, and the Huffington Post.
Artists: William Brittelle, R. Luke DuBois, Erin Gee, LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner (completing their MediaLive 2016 commission), Logan & Lucille, Emily Matteson, Metahaven, Erica Scourti, The Studio Project, Amalia Ulman, Daniel Wohl, and VidKidz.
Speakers: Chris Coleman, Erin Espelie, Jolene Fisher, Meg Jackson, Mei-Ling McNamara, and Alex Pilnick
Commissioned works:
Amalia Ulman, Agenda (2017)
William Britelle, Without Chasms (2017)
