CARP THEORY Viktor Timofeev // Mohsen Hazrati // Kyle Hittmeier
June 9th - July 7th, 2018 //
Opening Sat June 9th 6 - 10 pm
TRANSFER // 1030 Metropolitan Ave
“Man has gone out to explore other worlds and other civilizations without having explored his own labyrinth of dark passages and secret chambers, and without finding what lies behind doorways that he himself has sealed.”- Stanislaw Lem
“I often think that we are like the carp swimming contentedly in that pond. We live out our lives in our own "pond," confident that our universe consists of only the familiar and the visible.” - Michio Kaku
TRANSFER Gallery is pleased to present Carp Theory, a group exhibition curated by Alt Esc, featuring the works of Kyle Hittmeier, Viktor Timofeev, and Mohsen Hazrati.
In his 1994 book Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension, the physicist Michio Kaku draws an arresting metaphor between how people and carps in a pond perceive the physical world around them - the existence of other worlds, spaces and realities is not limited to tangible elements that can be seen or touched. The artists in the exhibition explore the possibilities of multiple realities through self-reflection, political hyperboles, and virtual power dynamics.
Hittmeier approaches digital space as a vacuum—one predicated on infinite direction, scale, time and potential. In his video Lead-Based he stages a forensic scene asking the viewer to confront dangerous idealism, while embracing architectural spectacle. The work oscillates between self-defeat and victory in an attempt to reconcile mankind's seemingly innate desire for dominance.
In his VR installation Physical Capacity Timofeev ask his participants to crawl around the floor within the allocated physical boundaries, while the virtual environment transforms into a labyrinth populated by an increasing number of cockroaches. The cockroaches respond to the participants’ gaze, triggering a pattern recognition game of color and sound, which the participants can choose to engage with or ignore. The architecture of the VR coerces participants to physically move between the virtual walls using their bodies, in turn imitating the randomized movements of the cockroaches.
In his game and VR installation Tey al-Tool, Hazrati presents an ongoing digital self-portrait by creating virtual 3-D worlds based on his experience of working with computer software. Tey al-Tool is a similar word to Tay al-Arz (Tool meaning “length” and Arz meaning “world and width” in Persian). Tay al-Tarz means the folding up of the earth or covering long distances in a blink of an eye. It is the name for teleportation in the mystical form of Islamic religious and philosophical tradition. The concept has been expressed as "traversing the earth without moving.”
Kyle Hittmeier (b. 1983) is an interdisciplinary artist and curator whose work explores dynamics of power and authority by integrating CAD and rendering processes into physical media such as painting, drawing and sculpture. Hittmeier received his Bachelor's of Art from the University of California, Davis, and then graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a Master's of Fine Arts in Painting. He was a resident artist for the Digital Painting Atelier Program, OCAD University and the Wassaic Summer Residency Program. Recent exhibitions include the Boston Center for the Arts, Lamar Dodd School of Art, Project ARTSpace, and Spring/Break 2018.
Mohsen Hazrati graduated in 2012 with a BA in graphic design from Shiraz Art Institute of Higher Education. His work focuses on the integration of digital culture and the new-aesthetic into the Shirazi culture and has been exhibited in The Wrong New Digital Art Biennale, Babycastles Gallery, New York, and Matchbox Gallery, Texas, etc. In collaboration with MiladForouzande since 2013 he has been the co-founder and curator of Dar-AlHokoomeh Project: a new media art project based in Shiraz, Iran. Since 2016 Mohsen has been teaching Digital Aesthetics and VFX courses at his alma mater. The artist lives and works in Shiraz, Iran.
Viktor Timofeev (b. Riga, Latvia) studied at Hunter College in New York and the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam. His recent solo exhibitions include Stairway to Melon at Kim Contemporary Art Center, Riga, Sweet Guardian at Podium, Oslo, S.T.A.T.E. at Drawing Room, London and Sazarus I at Jupiter Woods, Vienna. Recent group exhibitions include Future Fictions at Assembly Point, London, White Walkers at 427 Gallery, Riga, Roy Da Price at Futura, Prague, Piknik na Obochine at Exo Exo, Paris.
Alt Esc is a Brooklyn-based, artist-run curatorial team and publication started by Alison Sirico and Irina V Makarova in May 2016. Sparked by the realization that disparity exists between the institutionalized art world and the new wave of rising artists, Alt Esc was founded to vocalize the leading ideas and trends in young contemporary studio practice. We are interested in individuals and collectives who are players in the art world’s subcultural framework and those who are community oriented. Equal parts publication and event production team, we seek to communicate dialogues that manifest into praxis. Through publication and curating exhibitions, we strive to connect rising artists with new opportunities, while honoring and sharing their current achievements with a broader audience. Using the studio visit as a model for a narrative, we hope to communicate, foster, and archive today’s young cultural landscape.
TRANSFER explores the friction between networked studio practice and its physical instantiation. The gallery supports artists working with computer-based practices to realize aggressive installation projects within our walls, and exhibits internationally at art fairs to engage the growing market for media-based artworks.
TRANSFER Gallery ::: 1030 Metropolitan Ave Brooklyn, NY 11211
