GRAPHICS INTERCHANGE FORMAT

67 artist-made animated GIFs
Curated by Laurel Ptak iheartphotograph.com
Part of the exhibition Young Curators, New Ideas
Bond Street Gallery
297 Bond Street, Brooklyn NY
Wednesday, August 13 – Saturday, September 6, 2008

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Curator’s Statement:

GIFs are a modest 8-bit-per-pixel bitmap image format introduced to the world by CompuServe in 1987. They have the distinction of being the very first color compression format widely used for images online (predating the JPEG by 7 years). One of the beauties of the GIF is that a single file can contain multiple images shown in a timed sequence, giving the effect of motion, known fondly as an animated GIF. In the ’90s these proliferated onscreen in the form of dancing babies and rotating globes, maladroitly articulating a kind of humanist optimism about the internet. Looking back at them now, animated GIFs seem at once gleefully lo-fi and ineffably poignant, almost desperate to communicate something beyond what the bounds of their humble technology could allow.

Curious how this lo-fi form might fare in a contemporary context, I commissioned 26 photographers, designers, and new media artists to embrace this more than 20-year-old technology. They were given only 3 days to work on their projects and were encouraged, though not required, to incorporate photographic materials. Some had never made an animated GIF before and some were notorious for it. The approaches, aesthetics, and meanings to be found in their GIFs really impressed me. Some use the form epically like a novelist or a film director; others are self-reflective about the limits of technology and representation; many challenge photography’s usual atemporal disposition; and then some just make me giggle.

Their full results are on view at Bond Street Gallery from August 13–September 6, 2008, shown on 44-inch flat screen in an infinite loop. Each GIF is sold in an unlimited edition for $20, accompanied by a personalized note from the artist.

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Featuring work by Victor Boullet, Tyler Coburn, Petra Cortright, C.Coy, Daniel Everett, Thobias Fäldt & Per Englund, Martin Fengel, Jason Fulford, Nicholas Grider, Pierre Hourquet, Konst & Teknik, Eke Kriek, Emily Larned, Matt MacFarland, Katja Mater, Kelci McIntosh, Ilia Ovechkin, Robert Overweg, M. River, Noel Rodo-Vankeulen, Asha Schechter, Trevor Shimizu, Jo-ey Tang, Anne De Vries, Karly Wildenhaus and Damon Zucconi.

I’ll be showing my vacation 08 gifs - vacationoitacav
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