Event Description:
In this artist talk, Zach Blas will discuss his recent work on Silicon Valley and time travel, airport security, mysticism, BDSM, and more. Blas reimagines the airport security setting through the genre of body horror cinema, with body scans and biometric meshes as key protagonists. These digital bodies—extracted from embodied selves—are inspected, prodded, and probed for the sake of risk preemption, but how do such acts come to provoke or terrify, when—no matter how violently handled— the digital renderings of securitized people appear to be free of the horrors of bodily violation?
Event Speaker:
Zach Blas is an artist, filmmaker, and writer whose practice spans technical investigation, theoretical research, conceptualism, performance, and science fiction. He is a Lecturer in the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London. Blas has exhibited, lectured, and held screenings internationally, recently at the 2018 Gwangju Biennale; the 68th Berlin International Film Festival; Abierto X Obras, Matadero Madrid; 2018 Creative Time Summit, Miami; MAXXI, Rome; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Art in General, New York; Gasworks, London; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore; e-flux, New York; Whitechapel Gallery, London; and Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City. His recent project Contra-Internet is supported by a 2016 Creative Capital award in Emerging Fields and the Arts Council England. His writings can be found in Documentary Across Disciplines, Queer: Documents of Contemporary Art, and e-flux journal. His work has been written about and featured in Artforum, Frieze, ArtReview, Mousse Magazine, The Guardian, and The New York Times. Blas is a 2018-20 Arts and Humanities Research Council Leadership Fellow.
Event Information:
This event is hosted by New York University's XE: Experimental Humanities & Social Engagement. More event details found at the event webpage.
