Benjamin Forster: Reading (stedelijk.nl)

Benjamin Forster’s work takes the shape of an online performance for the website of Stedelijk Museum. His context-specific performance draws series of single words from the pages within the website, shown to the web-visitor on a white background for a few seconds only before it fades away and the viewer returns to the regular page.  Despite of its random appearance, the performance runs on a deterministic way.

Reading (stedelijk.nl) (2015) unravels through a recurring fade in and fade out of words. Based on an algorithm which randomly selects snippets of text, the work emphasises the speed of online movement, forging us to slow down. Through its tacit pace, it draws attention to aspects of hypertextuality, amassing to a form of poetry innate to the online environment. The work is accessible via the Stedelijk Museum website and will travel to  the website of de Appel arts centre (www.deappel.nl), expanding the ideas of (the museum)space. The notion of time is challenged, not only through the pace of the appearing words, but also due to the fact that the performance starts at 8pm in different time zones, allowing  an intercontinental audience witness the intervention on the website, either accidentally or on purpose.

The performance takes place in the context of the exhibition Your Time Is Not My Time, which is part of the Final Project Curatorial Programme, on view at de Appel arts centre from May 23 until June 28. This show revolves around the radical change of the conditions of visuality. How images have shifted from the personal realm to a currency in cybernetic participation, where the value or/and power resides in being seen. This new visual economy has blurred the lines between producers and audience, enlarging the concept of authorship. A version of Benjamin Forster’s work will be on view at the website of de Appel arts centre for the duration of the exhibition.

MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST

Benjamin Forster (b. 1985, Australia) is a media artist who has brought together digital technologies, drawing, installation and print to trace the boundaries of logic, economy and language. Forster was the winner of the 2010 Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award Non-Acquisitive prize in Australia.  He received a Bachelor of Visual Arts with First Class Honours from the Australian National University in 2008 and has participated in residencies at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in Sydney and HIAP in Helsinki.

CREDITS

Benjamin Forster
Reading (stedelijk.nl).
online performance, website Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, May 21, 8pm-10pm
Reading (deappel.nl).
online durational performance, website de Appel arts centre, May 22 – June 28 

This performance is co-curated by Barbara Cueto, Bas Hendrikx, Lian Ladia, who are  participants of the Curatorial Programme 2014-15 of de Appel arts centre, in collaboration with the Stedelijk Museum Public Program.
The Curatorial Programme is a 10-month long training programme for young, international curators, which has been organized by de Appel arts centre since 1994. This year, de final project of the Curatorial Programme consists of two exhibitions: Spell to Spelling ** Spelling to Spell and Your Time Is Not My Time, on view from 23 May until 28 June, 2015.