Not Content As In Happy (2019)
@ Studio XX in Montreal QC
Our digital lives allude to the sort of self we can imagine ourselves to be(1). Open browser tabs become gestures of solidarity while shares and likes make those affinities visible. However such actions become performative as our lists of unread content become longer and longer.
Not Content As In Happy transforms Studio XX into a reading room. This event proposes a response to the accumulation of content by inviting visitors to bring their laptop or cellphone and spend time going through any online material they previously bookmarked. Plinth-like stacks of 8 ½” x 11” paper will accumulate in the space as participants are encouraged to print a copy of what they have read: the sculptures become a physical manifestation of the invisible labour of staying informed. This collective “pause” is taking the time to make visible, as labour, the consumption of, and engagement with online content.
You can find a write up about the exhibition by Audrey Laurin for Studio XX's online archive project, Matricules, here.
1.Horning, Rob (2014, April 29). “Me Meme” The New Inquiry. Retrieved from https://thenewinquiry.com/, (December 13, 2018).