In the flash animation SpringValle_ber_girls , Petra Cortright collages together surreal scenes out of unnaturally idyllic desktop screensavers with equally unreal computer-generated women that pop in and out of the landscape. Cortright’s backgrounds are made seedy by the appearance of digitally-rendered strippers, while various layers of internet escapism collide together in an infinite loop. The dancing girls are sourced from VirtuaGirl, a software that makes footage of strippers available for download. This, in contrast with the fantastical digital worlds — which feature unicorns, birds and butterflies fluttering in untouched landscapes — raise questions about the way we view women in a digital landscape, while at the same time evoking a digital sort of impasto, reminiscent of impressionist painting.
Whether for a gallery or online audience, Petra Cortright uses the Internet as a medium, source, context and place where her work unravels. She is best known for her self-portrait videos created with a domestic webcam and then uploaded onto YouTube. The various effects that she applies to the clips are sourced from a variety of webcam softwares she has collected over the years. In her work, Cortright is the director, the actor, the editor all at once—allowing her to playfully explore ideas of the self and the body as it is represented in the digital realm, as well as the formal qualities of low-fi, homemade video. In more recent works, Cortright combines photos, gifs, memes, games, animation and even pornography sourced from the internet, mixing various forms of expression as means to meditate on the social ramifications of the medium. Cortright also creates 2D works—primarily Photoshop-based paintings transferred onto aluminum, linen, paper, or acrylic—where she overlays hundreds of digital layers composed by found samplings to simulate brush strokes.
Die Siedlung is a filmic documentary about the recent shift in housing developments in Leipzig-Grünau in former East Germany and its consequences on some inhabitants...
Stars Align for Photographer with this Rare Aurora Image Home / Photography / Astrophotography Stars Align for Photographer in this Rare Photo of an Aurora, STEVE, and the Milky Way By Jessica Stewart on December 4, 2023 When British photographer Stephen Pemberton heard reports that the Aurora borealis would be visible in his area, he quickly gathered his camera equipment and headed out the door...
Paris to get new fair for Latin American art next September Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Art fairs news Paris to get new fair for Latin American art next September Mira will bring together around 20 galleries at the Maison de l'Amérique Latine Alexandre Crochet 15 December 2023 Share The Maison de l'Amérique Latine in Paris Courtesy of Maison de l'Amérique Latine It was the only fair missing to allow for a world tour of art without ever leaving Paris...
“A Dream Under the Southern Bough: Reverie”: Down the Ant Hole | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Courtesy of Toy Factory June 6, 2019 By Jocelyn Chng (1,138 words, five-minute read) My strongest memory from the first instalment of this three-year series by Toy Factory, A Dream Under the Southern Bough: The Beginning , was its dramatic cliffhanger of an ending...
“Peter and the Starcatcher”: An Invitation to Suspend Disbelief Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles October 22, 2018 By Casidhe Ng (1,100 words, six-minute read) The final show of Pangdemonium’s 2018 season, Peter and the Starcatcher is this year’s equivalent of Fun Home or RENT , an exuberant and expensive production intent on ending their year with a bang...
Welling employs simple materials like crumpled aluminum foil, wrinkled fabric and pastry dough and directly exposes them as photograms, playing with the image in the process of revealing it...
The Pudic Relation between Machine and Plant shows a looped scene where a robotic hand touches a “sensitive plant” — Mimosa Pudica, a species characteristic for closing on itself when touched...
Coproduced between KADIST and Sharjah Art Foundation in the context of Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present , Farah Al Qasimi’s Um Al Dhabaab (Mother of Fog) challenges colonial myths upheld by Western academia and the lingering imperialist interests at play across Asia’s modern-day trade hubs...