Angie Keefer
Angie Keefer and Kara Hamilton, Where Were We, 2014. Stainless steel, 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 60.96 cm). Collection of the artists; courtesy of Kunstverein, Amsterdam. Photograph by Tabea Feuerstein
Born 1977 in Huntsville, AL
Lives and Works in Hudson, NY
Angie Keefer’s 2014 Biennial video installation, Fountain, consists of an animation of a waterfall controlled by a computer program that gathers data from various commodities futures indexes currently trading around the world. When the markets are up, the water flows forward. When the markets are down, the water flows backward. Every few seconds, the program repeats. While new information is being collected, the transparent screen goes blank, and the world behind the falls is visible. Viewers who focus on the moving waterfall for an extended period will experience a motion aftereffect commonly known as the “waterfall effect,” in which stationary objects will appear to move in the direction opposite to that of the water. Like economic movements themselves, by the time the effect registers, the catalytic event has passed; the impact is obvious yet difficult to grasp. This simple metaphor is Keefer’s way of inviting the viewer to grapple both affectively and analytically with a powerful abstraction.
While for the Biennial exhibition she is presenting a video installation, Keefer is perhaps best known as a writer, editor, and publisher. Futures (2013), an essay Keefer contributed to the 2014 Biennial exhibition catalogue, explores the same ideas as Fountain but through language.
On View
Museum Lobby
Angie Keefer's work is on view in the Museum Lobby.
