This panel discussion examines the ways in which artists are using social media platforms like Instagram and the role it plays in relation to their practice. It discusses how in our increasingly digitised culture, we consume images, how they circulate, the networks and opportunities that develop, new forms of curation and the inevitable questions around ownership and censorship.
Chaired by Head of Art and Technology at SPACE, Rachel Falconer, panelists including artist, Nick Waplington, whose exhibition Nick Waplington/Alexander McQueen: Working Process is currently at Tate Britain, artist James Bridle and Curator (Digital Programme) at The Photographers' Gallery, Katrina Sluis, discuss these opportunities and issues.
Speaker Biographies
James Bridle is an artist, writer, and publisher based in London, UK. His writing on literature, culture and networks has appeared in magazines and newspapers including Wired, Domus, Cabinet, the Atlantic, the New Statesman, the Guardian, the Observer and many others, in print and online. His artworks have been commissioned and exhibited worldwide and on the internet. He lectures regularly at universities, conferences and other events. His formulation of the New Aesthetic research project has spurred debate and creative work across multiple disciplines. His work can be found at on the booktwo website.
Rachel Falconer is a curator, writer and producer operating at the intersections of technology, networked behaviour and contemporary art. She is Head of Art and Technology at SPACE where she is responsible for the strategic cross-programming of the art and technology public programme and SPACE Medialab's workshops and co-creation events. She also runs the International residency programme, including hosting residencies and research and development partnerships in association with Eyebeam, LUX, The Goethe-Institut, IASPIS, and Bloomberg.
Katrina Sluis is Curator (Digital Programmes) at The Photographers’ Gallery and Senior Lecturer at the Centre for the Study of the Networked Image, London South Bank University. With a background in systems administration, her writing and curatorial projects address photography’s relationship to computation, its social circulation and cultural value.
Nick Waplington is a British photographer born in Yemen, and based in London and New York City. In addition to Settlement (2014) he has published a number of photobooks including Alexander McQueen: Working Process (2013), Living Room (1991), Safety in Numbers (1996). He has exhibited internationally with solo shows such as Double Dactyl, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2007). Group shows include 49th International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale (2001) and This Place - Artists look at Israel and Palestine at the Brooklyn Museum (2015). Waplington received an ICP Infinity award in 1993 and his photographs can be found in public collections including the Guggenheim Art Gallery, MoMA in New York, the V&A and The Government Art Collection in London.