from this side of space to the other side of the signal
April 8 to May 6, 2017
Reception Thursday April 13, 2017 at 5:30 pm; Artist Talk at 6:30 pm
Benjamin Rosenthal (b. 1984, New York, NY, lives and works in Lawrence, Kansas) holds an MFA in Art Studio from the University of California, Davis and a BFA in Art (Electronic Time-Based Media) from Carnegie Mellon University. His work has been exhibited internationally in such venues as the Stuttgarter Filmwinter (Stuttgart, Germany), High Concept Labs at Mana Contemporary (Chicago, IL) FILE Electronic Language International Festival (São Paulo, Brazil), Vanity Projects (New York, NY), the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina(Nov,i Sad, Serbia), and online via the Istanbul Contemporary Art Museum (Is.CaM), among others. Pulling from a variety of fields in the humanities and sciences, he questions the authenticity of our physical experience in an age where the boundaries between reality and the virtual become indistinguishable. Rosenthal is Assistant Professor of Expanded Media, in the Department of Visual Art at the University of Kansas where he teaches Video Art, Performance Art, and interdisciplinary practices.
My practice examines the strategies of how we perform—the systems of control we set in place, and the way we negotiate our psychological, tangible and virtual positions. Most recently I find myself questioning the greater emphasis placed on physical experiences as a measure of authenticity in an age where the boundaries between physical reality and the virtual become nearly indistinguishable. Employing broader themes such as militarism, religion and technology, I expose and challenge the changing condition of bodies and psyches as they collide against each other within these often dysfunctional atmospheres. While my primary discipline is in video and other new media, my practice is interdisciplinary and my work traverses disciplines within the field of visual art—manifesting itself in such other formats as sculpture, installation, performance, and drawing.