I am fantastically happy with how the show turned out.
Two things I realized talking to people about it:
- The three new series are each depictions of different kinds of subjects/persons (patriarchal/legal/cypherpunk).
- I went outside my comfort zone, making works that could (but didn’t!) fail
The new series are about who gets to speak under each system, who counts, who makes the world and moves within it:
- TFP is the holder of the master signifier of patriarchy.
- Non is legal personhood, the ability to enter into contracts.
- Self-Identifying is cypherpunk personhood, anchored to cryptographic keys
In each case the work is Diogenes holding up a plucked chicken to the system it embodies.
Non is a judo-throw - taking VC employment contracts and creating rather than destroying a person with the same language. I never thought I’d get to do a show this me while continuing the threads I’ve been following in my art. I’m genuinely moved by the experience.
The Ego, and It’s 0wned was meant to be my one babytrans project. Things have happened since then and I’m an unreconstructed historical materialist when it comes to art. When historical tasks come knocking I don’t say no. I could have made Self-Identifying thirty years ago, which is kind of the point. TFP I very much couldn’t have lol.
I think code is interesting on the wall in various ways and I’m not afraid to say so.