experiments in visual narrative
fluid new media lab

Technology and its dizzying evolution continue to expand the ways ideas and creative pieces are executed and presented. The result is a rich and fertile backdrop of concepts and executions vying for attention. This complex setting requires that artistic statements have a strong conceptual base that can deliver a powerful emotional impact across diverse yet converging media such as filmmaking, video art, animation, music, painting, sculpture and installation. This interplay across media presents challenges and a rich set of possibilities for the new media artist.
The concept of “new media” when first originated, was tied to computers and technology back in the 90’s and to the web in the “turn of the millennium.” Nowadays, it is the increasing juxtaposition of techniques, influences, theories and narratives.

When I accepted the generous invitation to curate fluid new media lab, I got ready to dig into the many submissions and look for those pieces that excel in achieving the delicate task of juxtaposing techniques, and embedding them with rich narratives. And what we found in this search is nothing short of inspirational, and a powerful continuum of the ongoing artistic drive to find new ways of expression.

Artists through history have challenged linear stories and experimented with techniques influencing each other, as we can see from the work of Georges Méliès, Maya Daren, Doug Aitken, David Lynch, Sergei Ensestein, Keneth Anger, Luis Buñuel, Nam June Paik, Bill Viola and Mathew Barney among many others. They all worked in different areas of visual storytelling but connected with the idea of transgression of media. They were also all inspired by the seminal role of the moving image and the space it presents for ongoing experimentation.
This avant garde tradition is still alive with the artists presented in this exhibit. We found a group of voices that are strongly influenced by the ubiquity of visual arts as a medium in all aspects of popular culture.