Itziar Barrio: and Dan and (when some small metal is spun)
“Barrio’s work points to the ways in which gender, race, sexuality, labor, desire, and more are the subtext of all negotiations, whether political or personal. Yet, rather than simply victims of circumstance, we may work to write, rewrite, or reroute the stories in which we play a part, whether small or large.“
-Johanna Burton (Director of The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles)
Itziar Barrio
La MaMa Galleria is pleased to announce the opening of their latest art exhibition, “and Dan and (when some small metal is spun)”, a video based project by Itziar Barrio involving the creation of a narrative using artificial-intelligence. This piece uses now legacy technology, GPT-2, a form of generative large-language Transformer model that was a predecessor to ChatGPT, to remind us of the importance and nuance of meaning. The language of poetry prevails in the final text resisting logic and opening future horizons. This exhibition explores the idea of meaning - or the lack there of - between the interplay of the AI model, the script, and performer Candystore's interpretation. Itziar Barrio is a multimedia artist based in NYC. She is internationally recognized for her contributions to the intersections of art, film, and technology. Her interdisciplinary, boundary breaking work has been exhibited at art institutions across the United States, Latin America, and Europe. Her work aims to re-write dominant narratives about social contracts, identity, the construction of reality, as well as labor politics and ownership over means of production.
Itziar Barrio’s solo exhibition will include “and Dan and (when some small metal is spun)” video, and related works. Barrio has developed this project as a member at the New Museum’s incubator NEW INC. This exhibition will be on view at the La MaMa Galleria from May 5–June 9.
Technologist Jared Katzman on ‘and Dan and (when some small metal is spun)’ by Itziar Barrio:
When does it matter that the AI is coherent or incoherent? When does it matter for humans to be coherent and incoherent (not to mention incoherence is a politically powerful tool in a world of oppressive rationalization)? And how do we remind ourselves that at the end of the day, humans are who give these systems and other people meaning - it doesn't exist in objective truth.
Special thanks to Lia Gangitano, PARTICIPANT INC and CULTUREHUB NYC.
Photographs by Etienne Frossard
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Itziar Barrio is a multimedia artist based in NYC. She is internationally recognized for her contributions to the intersections of art, film, and technology. Her interdisciplinary, boundary breaking work has been exhibited at art institutions across the United States, Latin America, and Europe. Her work aims to re-write dominant narratives about social contracts, identity, the construction of reality, as well as labor politics and ownership over means of production. Johanna Burton (Director of The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and former curator at the New Museum ) has noted: “Barrio’s work points to the ways in which gender, race, sexuality, labor, desire, and more are the subtext of all negotiations, whether political or personal. Yet, rather than simply victims of circumstance, we may work to write, rewrite, or reroute the stories in which we play a part, whether small or large.“
Barrio’s work presented internationally at PARTICIPANT INC (NYC), MACRO Museum (Rome), MACBA Museum (Barcelona), Belgrade’s Contemporary Art Museum, Museo del Banco de la República (Bogotá), Salzburger Kunstverein, and the Havana Biennial among many others. Her monographic exhibition, BY ALL MEANS (2018), was curated by Johanna Burton, and her forthcoming monograph will be published by SKIRA in 2023. Barrio’s work has been written about in ARTFORUM, Art in America, The New York Times, The Brooklyn Rail, ART PAPERS, and BOMB. Barrio has received awards from NYSCA, the Brook- lyn Art Council, Ministry of Culture of Spain, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Royal Spanish Academy in Rome. She is currently a member of the New Museum’s NEW INC incubator. She teaches at the School of Visual Arts (NYC) and Sarah Lawrence College (NY), and has lectured internationally.
ABOUT LA MAMA GALLERIA
Founded in 1984, La Galleria is a nonprofit gallery committed to nurturing experimentation in the visual arts. La Galleria encourages an active dialogue between new media, performance, the plastic and visual arts, curatorial projects, and educational initiatives. It serves the East Village community by offering diverse programming to an inter-generational audience, and expanding the parameters of a traditional gallery space. As a non-profit, La Galleria is able to provide artists and curators with unique exhibition opportunities that are largely out of reach in a commercial gallery setting.
La MaMa Galleria
Founded in 1984, La Galleria is a nonprofit gallery committed to nurturing experimentation in the visual arts. La Galleria encourages an active dialogue between new media, performance, the plastic and visual arts, curatorial projects, and educational initiatives. It serves the East Village community by offering diverse programming to an inter-generational audience, and expanding the parameters of a traditional gallery space. As a non-profit, La Galleria is able to provide artists and curators with unique exhibition opportunities that are largely out of reach in a commercial gallery setting.