+ All Categories
Home > Documents > Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The Network Paradox ... · Above: Greg Niemeyer and Roger...

Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The Network Paradox ... · Above: Greg Niemeyer and Roger...

Date post: 10-Aug-2020
Category:
Upload: others
View: 4 times
Download: 0 times
Share this document with a friend
5
Above: Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen, Networks Forming, 2018. Pigment print. Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The Network Paradox with Mullowney Printing in concert with QUANTOPIA: The Evolution of the Internet by Paul D. Miller AKA DJ Spooky January 12 February 16, 2019 San Francisco, CA: Catharine Clark Gallery opens its 2019 program with The Network Paradox, a collaborative project by artist Greg Niemeyer and computer scientist and artist Roger Antonsen, with Mullowney Printing, San Francisco. Realized in celebration of the 50 th anniversary of the Internet, The Network Paradox depicts an animated view of the evolution of the Internet from 1969 to 2019,as Niemeyer describes, while inviting meditation on how we form communities through technologies. The centerpiece of Niemeyers exhibition is an 18-foot long gravure scroll printed from 26 plates, published by Mullowney Printing with assistance from graduate printmaking students at Pacific Northwest College of the Arts. The monumentally-scaled work on paper draws inspiration from the Daoist hexagrams of the I Ching, the historical divination text that dates to Chinas Western Zhou period (1000 750 BC). The 64 hexagrams in the I Ching are composed through sequences of straight and broken lines that form unique compositions, representing different elements that are essential to Daoist philosophy, and that find a visual parallel in Niemeyers rendering of the net. In identifying these symbolic constructions as an early form of code, Niemeyer and Antonsen created a graphic composition that imagines an expanded history of the Internet and its evolution through the technological advancements of the Cold War (1946 1991), the first dot-com wave, the rise of big data, and the influence of artificial intelligence, among other sources and events.
Transcript
Page 1: Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The Network Paradox ... · Above: Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen, Networks Forming, 2018.Pigment print. Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The

Above: Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen, Networks Forming, 2018. Pigment print.

Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The Network Paradox

with Mullowney Printing

in concert with QUANTOPIA: The Evolution of the Internet by Paul D. Miller AKA DJ Spooky

January 12 – February 16, 2019

San Francisco, CA: Catharine Clark Gallery opens its 2019 program with The Network Paradox, a collaborative project by artist Greg Niemeyer and

computer scientist and artist Roger Antonsen, with Mullowney Printing, San Francisco. Realized in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Internet, The

Network Paradox depicts “an animated view of the evolution of the Internet from 1969 to 2019,” as Niemeyer describes, while inviting meditation on how we

form communities through technologies.

The centerpiece of Niemeyer’s exhibition is an 18-foot long gravure scroll printed from 26 plates, published by Mullowney Printing with assistance from

graduate printmaking students at Pacific Northwest College of the Arts. The monumentally-scaled work on paper draws inspiration from the Daoist

hexagrams of the I Ching, the historical divination text that dates to China’s Western Zhou period (1000 – 750 BC). The 64 hexagrams in the I Ching are

composed through sequences of straight and broken lines that form unique compositions, representing different elements that are essential to Daoist

philosophy, and that find a visual parallel in Niemeyer’s rendering of the net. In identifying these symbolic constructions as an early form of code, Niemeyer

and Antonsen created a graphic composition that imagines an expanded history of the Internet and its evolution through the technological advancements of

the Cold War (1946 – 1991), the first dot-com wave, the rise of big data, and the influence of artificial intelligence, among other sources and events.

Page 2: Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The Network Paradox ... · Above: Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen, Networks Forming, 2018.Pigment print. Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The

Catharine Clark Gallery 248 Utah Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 TEL 415.399.1439 www.cclarkgallery.com 2

Above: Greg Niemeyer and Master Printer Paul Mullowney at work on the The Network Paradox scroll at Pacific Northwest College of the Arts, 2018.

The scroll offers viewers a data visualization in analogue form; and through the unexpected use of the 19th century process of gravure etching, The Network

Paradox encourages viewers to consider how, throughout time, technology continuously offers us tools for finding meaning and connection through visual

storytelling. The graphic shapes and lines in Niemeyer’s and Antonsen’s composition also evoke the logograms of non-Western writing systems, such as

hieroglyphics or cuneiform, that use images and symbols to convey narrative. Niemeyer writes, the scroll itself encourages interpretation and debate, noting

that “the mystery of the scroll lies in the tension between a bold, iconic rendering of turning points in the history of the Internet layered with billowing

clouds of network formations” that could alternatively represent “the desires which drive technological development, the drama of total quantification, or the

energies of generational change.” In rendering this history of the Internet, Niemeyer and Antonsen eschew any one totalizing narrative, and instead opts for

broader, more generous visual poetics, where viewers can consider “the way we form communities” that define our futures.

In Gallery II, the scroll is presented as a solo project by Niemeyer and Antonsen, printed by Paul Mullowney and his team. In Gallery I, Niemeyer and

Antonsen present a contextual installation of works which led to the scroll. The installation includes preparatory studies, storyboards, generative art by

Antonsen and Niemeyer, an interactive digital network drawing tool, and a sculpture representing the network. On view in the gallery’s Media Room is

another interactive, immersive installation experienced through VR created by Niemeyer and Medium Labs. The VR work visualizes the network as nodes

that are the scaffolding of internet connections, and their project allows the viewer to touch and operate within their 3-D representation of networks.

Contributors to The Network Paradox include Paul Mullowney, Harry Schneider, Erin McAdams, Max Valentine, Wendy Liu, MEDIUM Labs (Boulder, CO),

Leilah Talukder, Oliver Moldow, Brian Lo, and Lisa Esters.

Page 3: Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The Network Paradox ... · Above: Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen, Networks Forming, 2018.Pigment print. Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The

Catharine Clark Gallery 248 Utah Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 TEL 415.399.1439 www.cclarkgallery.com

On Friday, January 25, 2019, in conjunction with The Network Paradox, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts premieres QUANTOPIA: The Evolution of the

Internet, a multimedia performance work by Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky, with Niemeyer, Antonsen and MEDIUM Lab’s involvement in the visual

design. QUANTOPIA is commissioned by Internet Archive; a Hewlett 50 Arts Commission funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Presented in

association with YBCA. Produced by Sozo Artists, Inc. with additional support from Sozo Impact, Inc.

A panel discussion titled “Net, Web, Cloud, Fog” will be held at the gallery on Saturday, January 26, 2019, from 4 – 6 PM, featuring speakers Brewster

Kahle, Paul D. Miller, Roger Antonsen, Tung-Hui Hu, An Xiao Mina, and Greg Niemeyer. Join us for an opening for The Network Paradox with artist talks

by Niemeyer and Antonsen on Saturday, January 12, 2019 from 3 – 5pm; talk at 4pm.

Above: Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen, Network Polarization, 2018. Pigment print.

Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The Network Paradox

with Mullowney Printing

Catharine Clark Gallery

January 12 – February 16, 2019

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 12, 2019, 3 – 5pm; talk at 4pm

Related programming:

QUANTOPIA: The Evolution of the Internet

Paul D. Miller AKA DJ Spooky

Visual Design by Greg Niemeyer, MEDIUM Labs and Roger Antonsen

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

January 25, 2019 | 7:30pm

Tickets: $25

https://www.ybca.org/whats-on/quantopia

Panel discussion: “Net, Web, Cloud, Fog”

with speakers Brewster Kahle, Paul D. Miller, Roger Antonsen,

Tung-Hui Hu, An Xiao Mina and Greg Niemeyer

Catharine Clark Gallery

January 26, 2019 | 4 – 6pm

https://www.gregniemeyer.com/happenings/2019/1/26/net-web-

cloud-fog

Lecture: Greg Niemeyer | Artist Talk on The Network Paradox

Green Music Center, Sonoma State University

February 7, 2019 | 11:55am – 1pm

https://www.gregniemeyer.com/happenings/2018/12/24/the-

network-paradox

Lecture: Greg Niemeyer | A BELL A CORE A NODE

San Jose State University

February 7, 2019 | 5 – 6pm

https://www.gregniemeyer.com/happenings/2019/2/7/a-bell-a-

core-a-node

Page 4: Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The Network Paradox ... · Above: Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen, Networks Forming, 2018.Pigment print. Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The

Catharine Clark Gallery 248 Utah Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 TEL 415.399.1439 www.cclarkgallery.com 4

Above: Detail of Lenka Clayton, Animal Photographed by an East German Spy, from “Typewriter Drawings” series, 2018.

Featured in the artist’s solo presentation at Catharine Clark Gallery in April 2019.

Upcoming Events and Exhibitions:

Panel discussion: Terri Cohn and Farley Gwazda - representing the estate of Sonya Rapoport - and Greg Niemeyer

February 6, 2019 | 5:30 - 7pm

In the spirit of Niemeyer and Antonsen’s animated view of the evolution of the internet and the idea that the exhibit invites meditation on how we form communities through

technology, the gallery presents Terri Cohn and Farley Gwazda—representing the estate of Sonya Rapoport (www.sonyarapoport.org) who in 1970 began working on computer

print outs using a personal language pattern—and Greg Niemeyer in conversation.

Andy Diaz Hope and Laurel Roth Hope | An Inexhaustive Study of Power

Media Room: Lenka Clayton, People In Order - Home

February 23 – March 30, 2019

Lenka Clayton | Solo Presentation

April 6 – May 11, 2019

Media inquiries contact Anton Stuebner | [email protected] | Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Friday from 10:30am – 5:30pm| Saturday from 11am - 6pm

Page 5: Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The Network Paradox ... · Above: Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen, Networks Forming, 2018.Pigment print. Greg Niemeyer and Roger Antonsen | The

Catharine Clark Gallery 248 Utah Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 TEL 415.399.1439 www.cclarkgallery.com 5

HISTORIES, BIOGRAPHIES AND LINKS

Greg Niemeyer: https://www.gregniemeyer.com

Greg Niemeyer is a data artist who seeks to represent the human element in the database.

Born in Switzerland in 1967, Niemeyer studied classics and photography before arriving in the SF Bay Area in 1992, where he has lived and worked since. In 1997, he received his MFA from

Stanford University in New Media, and simultaneously founded the Stanford University Digital Art Center. Since 2001, Niemeyer has been a professor of New Media at UC Berkeley in the

Department of Art Practice.

Niemeyer’s work has been exhibited at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Cooper Union, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Jose Museum of Art, Zentrum fur Kunst

und Medien (Karlsruhe), and at many international arts biennials including La Villette Numerique (Paris), National Art Museum of China (Beijing); Centro de Cultura Digital (Mexico City),

and the Venice Biennale in 2013 (Maldives Pavilion). His work has been supported by the MacArthur Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Intel Technology

Innovation Grants.

The Network Paradox is his first major gallery-based project. Collaboration is central to Niemeyer’s’ practice. He has previously worked with Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky). For QUANTOPIA he

collaborated with Roger Antonsen and MEDIUM Labs to realize the visual design for the performance work. The Network Paradox scroll and attendant collaborative installations and projects

(with Roger Antonsen) offer a permanent reckoning with the impact of information technology on the way communities form.

Roger Antonsen: https://rantonse.no

Roger Antonsen is Associate Professor of Computer Science at the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo in Norway, and Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley, California. With a PhD

in mathematical logic and proof theory, and the author of the book Logical Methods: The Art of Thinking Abstractly and Mathematically, he is considered a logician, mathematician, computer

scientist, public speaker, author, and artist. Through his numerous projects, he creatively combines mathematics and computer science with entertainment, philosophy, and engaging

visualizations. He received the Best of Show Award for 2-D Art Work at the Bridges Stockholm 2018, an annual conference on mathematics and art. Antonsen is also an award-winning

science communicator, whose 2015 TED talk, “Math is the hidden secret to understanding the world”, is one of the most popular TED talks on mathematics.

The Network Paradox is also Antonsen’s first major gallery-based project. For The Network Paradox, Antonsen has collaborated with Greg Niemeyer on realizing several aspects of the gallery

installation, and with DJ Spooky on the visual design of QUANTOPIA.

Catharine Clark Gallery and Mullowney Printing https://www.cclarkgallery.com/exhibitions/upcoming and http://www.mullowneyprinting.com/

Named after his grandfather's commercial print studio founded in the early 1900's in Minneapolis, Mullowney Printing was founded by Paul Mullowney in San Francisco, California in 2011.

Prior to opening Mullowney Printing, Paul Mullowney trained to be a Master Printer at Crown Point Press in San Francisco. He later founded and managed studios in Ouda, Japan and on

Maui, Hawaii. Mullowney teaches at Pacific Northwest College of Art and the San Francisco Art Institute, and has delivered numerous printmaking workshops in the United States and Japan.

Clark and Mullowney began their collaborative relationship with the release of Sandow Birk's “Ten Leading Causes of Death in America” (2004), a suite of chine-collé, direct gravure

etchings. Between 2006-2007, Paul Mullowney, while working as the Master Printer at the Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center on Maui, Hawaii, published Sandow Birk's "Depravities of War". In

2011, Mullowney and Clark began co-publishing Birk's "Imaginary Monuments", a project that will ultimately comprise ten gravures. In addition to working with Birk and Elyse Pignolet,

Mullowney has printed with other artists represented by Catharine Clark Gallery including Josephine Taylor and Masami Teraoka. Mullowney has also worked extensively with Don Ed Hardy

and Alison Saar. Mullowney and Greg Niemeyer began realizing The Network Paradox as an engraved scroll in the summer of 2018.

MEDIUM Labs: https://www.instagram.com/mediumlabs/?hl=en

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky: http://www.djspooky.com/

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts: QUANTOPIA: The Evolution of the Internet https://www.ybca.org/whats-on/quantopia

QUANTOPIA is commissioned by Internet Archive; a Hewlett 50 Arts Commission funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Presented in association with YBCA. Produced

by Sozo Artists, Inc. with additional support from Sozo Impact, Inc.


Recommended