InTheLoop | New Exhibition Puts Art Makers and Art Consumers in the Same Place

Christopher Clary, Molly Soda, Sarah Rothberg, and Bhavik Singh are members of the artist collective “is this thing on?” They push the boundaries of live, interactive performances with their platform thing.tube.

Their pushing gets an extra shove when the Museum of the Moving Image presents THING+YOU from April 12 through Aug. 10. This exhibition blends the collective’s real-time online interactions with in-person encounters, marking the first time the performances exist in a hybrid space and a museum.

Access to galleries runs from $10 to $20.

Organized by MoMI Associate Curator of Media Arts Regina Harsanyi, THING+YOU transforms the Amphitheater Gallery into a site-specific manifestation of the collective’s website with five stations. The YOU station invites visitors to be one of the livestreamed performers.

Visitors engage in live chats and make real-time contributions to evolving artworks and archived performances by scanning QR codes placed throughout the exhibition. By responding to prompts, their actions and likenesses are livestreamed on thing.tube, merging the roles of observer and collaborator.

MoMI’s address is 36-01 35th Ave. in Astoria’s Kaufman Arts District.

A Special Day
The artists will be at MoMI for a takeover of the first floor on Saturday, June 7, from noon to 6 pm. Presented as part of the collective’s Open Worlds initiative, they’ll interact with visitors, while online participants can also engage through thing.tube. 

Explain, Please
By decentralizing streaming through a variety of low- and high-tech interventions, thing.tube is an alternative to mainstream platforms like Twitch and YouTube that gives artists greater control over their work and its distribution. 

Here’s information on the collaborative’s livestreams.

Christopher Clary (b. 1968) creates work that brings people together to explore and question technology. He hosts “The Chrisy Show,” which considers the relationship between machine learning and queer identity. Guests include artists Chia Amisola and her ambient music, Mark Ramos and his queer, FilipinX, San Franciscan chatbots, and Clary’s cognitively challenged AI boyfriend.

Molly Soda (b. 1989) examines online self-presentation and behind-the-screen behaviors. For THING+YOU, visitors contribute images that Soda prints and arranges with magnets, creating a collaborative collage that mirrors evolving desires in something akin to a Pinterest vision board for a bedroom.

Sarah Rothberg (b. 1987) creates experiences that reconfigure the ways in which digital interfaces affect collective understanding of the world. For THING+YOU, Rothberg debuts a new performance reimagining expertise through a mediated museum tour.

Bhavik Singh (b. 1992, Indian/American) creates slow, intimate, community-oriented software. In THING.cafe, visitors submit “bugs,” which can be anything from technical issues to abstract or philosophical problems, and Singh responds by creating a software-based solution in real time. Through live collaborative coding, he questions the labor and care involved in software development.

Support
THING+YOU is presented in partnership with Onassis ONX, an Onassis Culture initiative dedicated to creating new media art and digital experiences. Programmatic support for Open Worlds is provided in part by the William Fox Jr. Foundation.

Image: MoMI

 

Queens Tourism Council
QTC promotes the world’s most diverse county through organized efforts by local businesses, cultural institutions and government. We foster economic opportunities, travel and tourism by letting visitors and residents know that – with great places to visit, eat, play and stay – It’s in Queens!