{"title":"Pandemic Zoom Self-Portraits (2020-2021)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan role=\"presentation\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003e(7 prints in exhibition)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan role=\"presentation\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003e\u003cspan role=\"presentation\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003eFine art pigment print mounted on \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan role=\"presentation\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003eAluminium, behind 4mm acrylic glass\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan role=\"presentation\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003e\u003cspan role=\"presentation\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003e20x20cm\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan role=\"presentation\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003eSince the pandemic separated most of us from each other physically, we were seeing others mostly on screens, in zoom windows for moments of kindness, decisions and stories. \u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003e\u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003eThe images and transmissions propelled us into a certain future, but also very \u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003emuch reminded us how important it is for us to have physical contact, to experience other’s in the same reality we are in. \u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003e\u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003eDelayed transmissions, muted sound, out of synch lips, sometimes even crashes, \u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003emade us so fragile, and our brains so tired from constantly trying to somehow fill the gaps. \u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003e\u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003eSince the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been taking screenshots of my conversations with so many other humans, sometimes one on one and sometimes in groups. For the photographs here I took over 700 images. \u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003e\u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003eIt is a visual record but can it be an emotional record as well? I worked with machine learning to find commonalities between the many moments of connection and disconnection. \u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003e\u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003eI created permutations of the many conversations and the resulting new photographs emerge with the markings of visual vocabulary more familiar from painting. \u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003e\u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003eThe photographs here contain just enough information for us to sense a human presence but there is no way to really recognize who is talking with whom. (I am in all of them, as I took the \u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003epictures). \u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003e\u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003eOur brain wants to make sense of it all, but enough has been stripped away that it becomes almost impossible. This is an amplification of the desperate need to conect in difficult times. It is a meta view at how we have seen so many. This work connects the different avenues I have been following on my artistic journey. It is photography but it looks like painting. It is a universe of digital images but very much conected to a real life \u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003eexperience. It is highly personal and yet abstract and welcoming. \u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003e\u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003eEverything is interconnected. What seems familiar often isn’t. What seems unfamiliar often isn’t. \u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003e\u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003eLondon, April 2021 \u003cbr role=\"presentation\"\u003eEdited in Frankfurt, May 2024\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","products":[],"url":"https:\/\/witoldriedel.myshopify.com\/collections\/pandemic-zoom-self-portraits-2020-2021.oembed","provider":"Witold Riedel, Available Work","version":"1.0","type":"link"}