Those who missed the screening of NARGIFSUS at Transfer Gallery last Saturday have a second chance to view the show. It’s also being presented at NewHive as a web exhibition. Curated by Brooklyn based artist and curator Carla Gannis and Berlin based curator Tina Sauerländer, the show explores self-portraiture in the form of GIFs.
As a show, it’s fairly expansive. Themes such as bodily transformation via technology or just plain magic dominate while GIFs of people and things other than the artist play a second favorite in the exhibition. The amount of time and effort each artist put into their GIFs varies quite a bit, but as a subject that’s generally under-explored in the art GIF making world, it’s an important show.
The above self-portrait as Ann Hirsch as Pinocchio, the wooden puppet whose nose grows when lying, may be the strongest work in the exhibition. Here, Hirsch gestures to the construction of persona via social media and even her own practice which has long involved semi-fictional narratives, and participation in reality shows. Oddly enough, the piece reads as more honest than the Pinocchio’s nose might suggest, in so far as its admission of fallacy amounts to truth. That’s an accolade worth celebrating.
Participating artists include: Alfredo Salazar-Caro, Angela Washko, Ann Hirsch, Ann Schomburg, Anna Frants, Anthony Antonellis, Antonio Roberts, Carla Gannis, Cecilia Salama, Christian Petersen, Claudia Hart, Domenico Barra, Elena Garnelo, Emilie Gervais, Emilio Vavarella, Erica Lapdat Janzen, Erik Zepka, Eva Papamargariti, Everet Kane, Faith Holland, Federico Solmi, Gaby Cepeda, Giselle Zatonyl, Gretta Louw, Guido Segni, Helena Acosta, Jacky Connolly, Jennifer Chan, Jonny Star, Joshua Weibley, Kate Durbin (photo by Emily Raw), Katie Torn, LaTurbo Avedon, Laurence Gartel, Leah Schrager, Lisa Levy, Lorna Mills, LoVid Hinkis-Lapidus & Dia, Man Bartlett, Mark Dorf, Mathieu St-Pierre, Michael Mallis, Nicholas O’Brien, Niko Princen, Ole Fach, Patrick Lichty, Paul Hertz, Rafia Santana, Ray Tee, Rollin Leonard, Savannah Spirit, Shamus Clisset, Shayna Hawkins, Stefano W. Pasquini, Sung-Ah Jun, Susan Silas, Vince Mc Kelvie, Will Pappenheimer, Yuliya Lanina
