America Is Hard to See

May 1–Sept 27, 2015

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The two alternating programs on view in this chapter respond to the shifting cultural and political climate of America’s recent past. Program A presents works that cleverly engage forms of popular entertainment, advertising, music, dance, and technology. Works by artists such as Alex Bag, Tony Oursler, and Ryan Trecartin reflect a post-MTV era of lo-fi visual effects and disjointed editing, while those by Loretta Fahrenholz, Luis Gispert, and Jacolby Satterwhite use slick techniques to picture a remixed, science-fiction inflected future.

Program B is organized around politically driven works, which deal with themes including mass media’s role in shaping social and cultural consciousness; the politics of race, gender, and sexual identity; and the potential perils of global capitalism. Get Rid of Yourself, a video by the artist collective Bernadette Corporation, takes the anarchist protests at the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, as an opportunity to examine decentralized, anonymous political resistance and its rhetoric. The protesters’ call to “get rid of yourself” speaks to the futility of individual action and the general feeling of instability at the beginning of the new millennium (something that was heightened when the artists were editing the video in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks). Videos by artists like Tala Madani and Richard Serra confront us with their candor, while works by Kevin Jerome Everson, Sharon Hayes, and Wu Tsang address history and memory from more personal perspectives.

These two programs alternate and cycle through each day. Program A is screened first on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and Program B is screened first on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

Below is a selection of works from this chapter.