[-empyre-] Artwork #15: Liat Berdugo and Emily Martinez - Making You, Making Others

[Lee Tusman]

Yes! I am stressed! Yes I am overwhelmed! Yes I could use more 'me time!'

On first viewing, my brain flags behind my ability to comprehend what's
going on. I thought the script was written with machine learning possibly,
to be performed or voiced by a human.
With more reflection, I realize that is sort of correct. The 'spokesperson'
is announcing how to MAKE YOURSELF a "ghost, get hard, get in the mood, get
more energy, get nightmares, get over a guy, get out of bed to workout" and
hundreds more topics, probably as a result of the top Google search results
for the initial phrase. And those results are being fed/delivered to the
spokesmodel. From here, even thought I understand the process, and so I'd
imagine my brain would shut off, instead I find myself anticipating what
might come next. Blandness mixes with confusion and serendipitous results.
The matching images are even stranger and just as compelling: a google
image search soup of How To article images, promotional banners, stock
images, Disney character images, models, pop stars and kittens. By the time
we get near the end of the alphabet, I'm anticipating the end but not
wanting it to arrive.  How to make yourself a zombie. How to make yourself
zone out. Yes.

The artists describe their project as promotional video / performance
collaboration between an algorithm, a pair of artists, and a
gig-­economy-­spokesperson­-for-­hire. They're interested in how art can be
shaped in our current global economy and how is labor shifted. These are of
course huge topics, but the use of these arenas as tools for commentary but
also as tools for critical practice point to a fruitful new approach and
genre(s).

On Sun, Jul 29, 2018 at 10:34 AM, Daniel Lichtman <danielp73 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
> Liat Berdugo and Emily Martinez
> Making You, Making Others
>
> Video link: http://anxioustomake.ga/makingyoumakingothers.html
>
> Liat Berdugo is an artist, writer, and curator based in Oakland, CA. Her
> work strives to create an expanded, thoughtful consideration for digital
> culture. Berdugo has been exhibited in galleries and festivals
> internationally, and collaborates widely with individuals and archives. She
> is an Assistant Professor of Art and Architecture at the University of San
> Francisco.
>
> Emily Martinez is an artist working with digital and networked media. Her
> recent practice and research interests examine the relationship between
> media, memory, and catastrophe; post-representational forms of
> subjectivity, emancipatory practices, and the digital archive. Currently
> lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
>
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au
> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
>
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