Morehshin Allahyari, Jacob Ciocci, Kenta Cobayashi, Terrell Davis, exonemo, Miao Ying, Akihiko Taniguchi, Lu Yang

Rhode Island College, Bannister Gallery
Providence, RI
<Oct 5 - 28, 2017>

The real and virtual are no longer separate. Technological advancements have become so embedded in our daily lives that we often cannot separate our digital personas from our physical bodies. Meanwhile, advanced robotics and artificial intelligence systems replace human functionality, Facebook algorithms dictate our news and information, and virtual worlds imitate reality, with a tinge of fantasy. With virtual reality, 3D printing, and augmented reality we no longer debate how the real and virtual are separate, we wonder how to move forward.

We have entered a new world. The speed at which it progresses presents a contradiction. Moments are both memorable and forgotten. This is found in trying to remember older versions of Facebook, or what life was like before it. At the same time the media we use can reunite distant friends or obliterate any history of former lovers. We exist paradoxically forever and fornever. The selected artists of this exhibition interpret the new world, their artworks portray the present, a hyper-technological world, and hypothesize the future - a dream caught between utopia and nightmare.