“Art in the Age of Anxiety”
Sharjah Art Foundation
What the museum says: Art in the Age of Anxiety’ conjures the bombardment of information, misinformation, emotion, deception, and secrecy that invades online and offline life in the age of digital technology. It aims to illuminate the ‘post-digital’ condition—the manners and behaviors found in a world altered by the rise of digital technologies—and posits speculations for our future.
The exhibition design for ‘Art in the Age of Anxiety’ is created by architect—and Sharjah Biennial 13 participant—Todd Reisz. Reisz’s work often focuses on cities of the Arabian Peninsula from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Here, he has worked with curator Omar Kholeif to imagine a physical maze of corridors and experiences that will fully immerse the viewer.”
Why it’s worth a look: In his debut exhibition as curator of the Sharjah Foundation, Omar Kholeif has corralled some of the most prescient works of the internet-era. It’s a subject that Kholeif knows well having organized numerous related exhibitions, including “I Was Raised on the Internet” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, which broached themes of artificial intelligence, isolation, disassociation, transmission, interconnectedness, and more.
In the new show, more than 60 works spanning every medium imaginable represent every corner of the Internet, from Trevor Paglen’s surveillance-based aerial photographs, to Cao Fei’s surreal landscapes drawn from video game culture.
What it looks like:
Eva and Franco Mattes, (2010) in “Art in the Age of Anxiety” at the Sharjah Foundation. Photo: Danko Stjepanovic.
Installation view, “Art in the Age of Anxiety,” 2020. at the Sharjah Art Foundation. Photo: Danko Stjepanovic.
Corey Arcangel, (2017). © Cory Arcangel.
Installation view, “Art in the Age of Anxiety,” 2020. at the Sharjah Art Foundation. Photo: Danko Stjepanovic.
Guan Xiao, (2019). Photo: Mareike Tocha. Courtesy: Guan Xiao, Products Farming, installation view, 2019, Bonner Kunstverein. Courtesy of the artist, Antenna Space, Shanghai, and Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
Bogosi Sekhukhuni, (2017). Courtesy of Stevenson Gallery.
Installation view, “Art in the Age of Anxiety,” 2020. at the Sharjah Art Foundation. Photo: Danko Stjepanovic.
Douglas Coupland, (2016). Courtesy of the artist and Daniel Faria Gallery.
Trevor Paglen, (2015). Courtesy of the artist, Metro Pictures New York, and Altman Siegel San Francisco.
Constant Dullaart, (2019). Photo: Gert Jan van Rooij, courtesy of Upstream Gallery Amsterdam.
Thomson & Craighead, (2013). Courtesy of the artists.
Jeremy Bailey, (2012).
YOUNG HAE CHEANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, (2018).
Katja Novitskova, (2018) in “Art in the Age of Anxiety” at the Sharjah Foundation.
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
