Damon Zucconi, Sony, Lateral, 2009
single-channel 4k video (black & white, silent)
5:00 minutes
Lacey Lennon, BBC Markle, 2018
single-channel 4k video (color, sound)
6:42 minutes
Evelyn Pustka, Party in the U.S.A., 2018
single-channel 4k video (color, sound)
3:18 minutes
ASHES/ASHES is pleased to present edenchrome for all, a group exhibition featuring Michael Assiff, Valerie Keane, Lacey Lennon, Luke Libera Moore, Evelyn Pustka, Andrew Ross, Darryl Westly, and Damon Zucconi. The exhibition will be on view November 6 – December 20, 2020 with an opening on Friday, November 6th from 4–8pm. Gallery hours are Wednesday–Sunday, 12–6pm.
They say hindsight is 20/20. But how would we measure the visual acuity of something like our surveillance state? This question becomes even trickier when you consider the fact that besides the NSA and FBI overlords, our citizens also surveil each other…
So now — because hindsight is so revelatory — we can see just how naive the early apostles of the Information Age were. As if the more our lives became enmeshed in data flows, the more efficiency and “truth” would naturally float to the top, like bubbles in my beer.
But, instead, we’re all just drunk and drowning: lost somewhere in that gaping chasm between inter-personal drama, soul-crushing wealth inequality, and a vast geopolitical campaign of malevolent misinformation.
Amidst the backdrop of blur and noise, the data-sphere folds back onto “real life” in unsettling ways; that very distinction is dubious. From the bank to your bedroom, a thick layer of informational excretion coats every surface you touch – every pair of lips you kiss. Unbeknownst to you, your sex dreams last night were designed by a chic Manhattan marketing firm, tailored to your desires with the help of your browser cache.
So what is to be done? Firstly, admit that there is no going backwards.
This is not a love letter to Luddites…
We’ll take what is helpful. Then, I suggest, we poison the well.
Overload the data stream that suffocates you — that separates your body from mine. Flood it with subversive falsehoods, pirated re-edits, malware, corrupted files, and “dirty data” — an industry term for unkempt or faulty information.
In fact, “dirty data” is a poignant choice of terminology. It points to that which is tainted by matter — matter out of place – something soiled by the stubborn imperfections of thingness — that which resists easy abstraction into pure binary – the profound and messy fullness of a life irreducible to a mere typology of this or that, zero or one.
So consider this a speculative proposition for a preemptive attack; a sneaky poison dart subterfuge against the tyrant A.I. of our not so distant future.
We invented a name for this poison (or is it a cure?): edenchrome
And there’s enough for everyone.
— Luke Libera Moore
Michael Assiff (born 1983; St. Petersburg, FL) received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, RI)
Valerie Keane (born 1989; Passaic, NJ) received a BFA from The Cooper Union (New York, NY).
Lacey Lennon (born 1988; Montclair, NJ) received an MFA in Photography from Yale School of Art (New Haven, CT) and a BA from Temple University (Philadelphia, PA)
Luke Libera Moore (born 1990; Yonkers, NY) received an MFA in Photography from Yale School of Art (New Haven, CT) and a BFA from The Cooper Union (New York, NY)
Evelyn Pustka (born 1991; Houston, TX) received an MFA in Photography from Yale School of Art (New Haven, CT) and a BFA from The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX)
Andrew Ross (born 1989; Miami, FL) attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (Skowhegan, ME) and received a BFA from The Cooper Union (New York, NY)
Darryl Westly (born 1989; Chicago, IL) received a BFA from The Cooper Union (New York, NY)
Damon Zucconi (born 1985; Bethpage, NY) received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore, MD)