Electric Circus

Khadija Aziz , Brandon Celi , Katie Kotler , Calvin Zhang

Today, technology seems to be fully integrated into our sense of self. No one is exempt from the influence of technological advancements or their prevalence in our lives. At the same time, the evolution of digital media places our contemporary moment in a period of constant transition. This moment of metamorphosis is in contention at all times with our urge to clearly define and know ourselves. Furthermore, our reliance on technology as a means of righting our path, correcting our mistakes, and guiding us, has created an idealized expectation of ourselves. What if, instead of correcting the mistake, we let it exist in its error, its imperfection? What if we capitalized on the opportunity for that mistake to bring about a change in direction? In Electric Circus, artists take up the technological error as a space of self-critique, a location from which to regenerate our conception of self, and technology as the means through which this regeneration might take place. Works by Calvin Zhang, Khadija Aziz, Katie Kotler, and Brandon Celi explore the intersections of technology, art, and identity through works of video, text, sculpture, and installation. Throughout the works, each of the artists investigates their own identities and the potential for new forms of understanding to be constructed through a reification of the glitch as a reproduction of the self.

Curatorial Essay by Fabiyino Germain-Bajowa