[size=25]NikNaz Tavakolian's[/size] [size=50]diegetic.[/size]
an interactive installation of the triangulated gaze
November 19, 2009 - January 2, 2010
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 19, 6pm - 8pm
Artist talk: Thursday, December 3, 6pm
Gallery hours: Thursday - Saturday, 5pm - 10pm
Live webcam: www.medianoche.us/diegetic
MediaNoche
1355 Park Avenue, entrance on East 102nd Street
New York, NY 10029
212.828.0401
www.medianoche.us
MediaNoche, Uptown’s gallery devoted to new media, presents “diegetic.”, an interactive, site-specific installation of the triangulated gaze, by NikNaz Tavakolian
Interactive digital portraits, motion-sensing cameras, computers running Max/MSP, solar-powered wireless webcam, live streaming…
diegetic. is an interactive installation of the triangulated gaze. Two large-scale queer portraits projected on the storefront windows of the gallery follow the movements of onlookers and passersby. Watch the interaction over the web at www.medianoche.us/diegetic . From these perspectives, a multiplicity of narratives emerges calling into question subjectivity, power and truth.
The interactive portraits are part of an ongoing project investigating queer bodies and gender representation. Each day a different portrait is projected on the gallery windows revealing, over time, an implicit narrative about the act of looking. According to Tavakolian: “At first it seems like a reversal of the gaze, where gender non-conforming portraits are returning the look. But as people pass by over the seven-week run, it turns more into a collective ownership of the act of looking. The addition of a webcam deflects the dichotomy of the subject/object and brings in an element of surveillance. It references the constant eye that is on us but also acts as a witness to the story.”
Artist Statement:
My work is mostly about disjointed identity. As a queer, Iranian, anti-gendered artist, I try to subtly transgress the limits of how we see and offer new ways of reflecting on our surroundings through non-traditional communication strategies.
Artist Bio:
Niknaz Tavakolian was born in Tehran, Iran and raised in the United States. She is an interactive, electronic artist who is also a filmmaker and youth media mentor. Niknaz holds M.F.A. in Visual Arts from York University, Toronto, Canada and a B.A. in Film and the Media Arts from Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.
ABOUT MEDIANOCHE:
Director’s Statement Our media practice is rooted in community, utilizing technology as a tool for transgressing the dynamic, cultural space of Spanish Harlem in order to engage, incite, and transform the dialectics of alterity and marginality.
MediaNoche, a project of PRdream.com
MediaNoche is the place where art, technology and community converge. We offer artists working in new media exhibition space and residencies in order to provoke a dialogue that blurs all lines of marginality and alterity.di
MediaNoche, Uptown’s gallery devoted to new media, presents “diegetic.”, an interactive, site-specific installation of the triangulated gaze, by NikNaz Tavakolian
Interactive digital portraits, motion-sensing cameras, computers running Max/MSP, solar-powered wireless webcam, live streaming…
diegetic. is an interactive installation of the triangulated gaze. Two large-scale queer portraits projected on the storefront windows of the gallery follow the movements of onlookers and passersby. Watch the interaction over the web at www.medianoche.us/diegetic . From these perspectives, a multiplicity of narratives emerges calling into question subjectivity, power and truth.
The interactive portraits are part of an ongoing project investigating queer bodies and gender representation. Each day a different portrait is projected on the gallery windows revealing, over time, an implicit narrative about the act of looking. According to Tavakolian: “At first it seems like a reversal of the gaze, where gender non-conforming portraits are returning the look. But as people pass by over the seven-week run, it turns more into a collective ownership of the act of looking. The addition of a webcam deflects the dichotomy of the subject/object and brings in an element of surveillance. It references the constant eye that is on us but also acts as a witness to the story.”
Artist Statement:
My work is mostly about disjointed identity. As a queer, Iranian, anti-gendered artist, I try to subtly transgress the limits of how we see and offer new ways of reflecting on our surroundings through non-traditional communication strategies.
Artist Bio:
Niknaz Tavakolian was born in Tehran, Iran and raised in the United States. She is an interactive, electronic artist who is also a filmmaker and youth media mentor. Niknaz holds M.F.A. in Visual Arts from York University, Toronto, Canada and a B.A. in Film and the Media Arts from Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.
ABOUT MEDIANOCHE:
Director’s Statement Our media practice is rooted in community, utilizing technology as a tool for transgressing the dynamic, cultural space of Spanish Harlem in order to engage, incite, and transform the dialectics of alterity and marginality.
MediaNoche, a project of PRdream.com
MediaNoche is the place where art, technology and community converge. We offer artists working in new media exhibition space and residencies in order to provoke a dialogue that blurs all lines of marginality and alterity.
