Over the last decade, the Media Wall has polluted the Gallery with the image exhaust of the contemporary web and supported a new generation of artists responding to photography’s new life on-line and on-screen. However, all good things must come to an end, and in 2022 the Gallery will bid the Media Wall farewell, while the Digital Programme will continue expanding its physical and online presence beyond the screen.
As the Media Wall gasps its last pixelated breaths, selected works from its 10 years of life will flash across its screen over 5 weeks from 11th January – 13th February 2022. Collectively these projects explore themes of identity, representation and commodification from the aftermath of Web 2.0 to an AI spring.
Curated and organised around three volumes by Katrina Sluis and Sam Mercer, the programme bears witness to photography’s shifting role in an increasingly automated and algorithmic visual culture.
Volume 1: Image Proliferation
11 – 23 January
Born in 1987: The Animated GIF by various artists (2012)
For the LOL of Cats: Felines, Photography and the Web (2013)
One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age by Olia Lialina and Dragan Espenschied (2013)
Motherlode (2013)
Sun/Screen by Penelope Umbrico (2014-2015)
d(^_^)b Miku, Monsters and Musicians (2015)
PowerPoint Polemics featuring work by Clunie Reid (2016)
Food for Being Looked At (2017)