OGR YOU starts anew on September 11, 6 pm, with a conference by Eva and Franco Mattes, titled "Happens or it Didn’t Pic”.

This is how the two artists (1976, based in New York) describe it:  

“"Happens or it Didn’t Pic" is a twist on the common way of saying 'Pics or it didn’t happen', that has become popular after the raise of social media. This sentence has become so viral online, with its hundreds of variations, that it nowadays incapsulates what it means to socially exist. We exist if images of us circulate, if our every action is documented, if we have an audience - even if it’s imaginary. Our latest body of work, Dark Content, sheds light on the largely anonymous labour force of content moderators, that has emerged with the rise of social media. Content moderators are people who remove content deemed unsuitable. While much of our time online is spent on Web 2.0 platforms where we publish, share, comment, and like things, content moderators do the opposite: they remove. As much as we strive for attention, they strive for invisibility. In a sense they are the anti-internet. Throughout this talk, we will explore how what is concealed is often what matters most.”

Eva and Franco Mattes (1976) are an artist duo originally from Italy, living in New York. They have continually made work that responds to and dissects the contemporary networked condition, always approaching the ethics and politics of life online with a darkly humorous edge. Mattes' work is frequently in the media and has been written about in Artforum, Frieze Magazine, e-flux journal, The New York Times, Washington Post and The Guardian.
Group exhibition highlights include the Athens Biennale (upcoming), SFMoMA (upcoming), the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2018); Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie, Mannheim (2017); Yokohama Triennale (2017); Biennale of Sydney (2016); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2016); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2016). They were recipients of the Creative Capital Award (2016) and the Italian Council award (2018).
Their website: www.0100101110101101.org

All OGR YOU events, curated by Barbara Casavecchia in collaboration with Sergey Kantsedal, are free and open to the public upon reservation.

 

Eva and Franco Mattes
Dark Content
2016
Customized Ikea desks, monitors, videos, headphones, various cables
Exhibition view, BAK, Utrecht