Opening at Packer Schopf Gallery
Brian Dettmer Antisocial Media
Artist's Reception: Friday, May 8, 6 — 9 PM, 2015
 

In Antisocial Media, Brian Dettmer's new show with Packer Schopf Gallery, his chosen media once again becomes antisocial by definition. The media and materials he uses in his work are antagonistic to accepted practices and work contrary to the laws and customs of society. Another reading (and perhaps a quicker reading) of the title is Anti-Social Media, a stance in opposition of the prevailing tide of an information landscape full of trivial detritus and narcissistic notions.

Dettmer questions the authoritative, singular voice the printed page provides and takes liberty to recontextualize its content and its role in our current media environment. This antagonistic stance is increasingly pertinent as digital media moves from an environment initially rich with many formats and many voices back towards a platform of a few authorities controlling and facilitating the flow and forms that our ideas and communications must conform to.

Like improv jazz, a single work can be manifested in a new variation each time. Data becomes Dada and new meanings squeeze out between the seams. Words break down and images shift references in new surroundings. Parallels between the printed page and our accepted history are made with the digital era and our accepted future as antisocial interventions are imposed to question the accepted flow and propose new readings and new possibilities.

Brian Dettmer's work has been exhibited internationally in several galleries and institutions including the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, The Chicago Cultural Center, The High Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCAGA) and the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (VA MOCA). He was a featured artist in Maribor, Slovenia in conjunction with its designation as the European Cultural Capital in 2012 and in 2014 he was given a 10 year retrospective at the Hermann Geiger Foundation in Cecina, Italy. His work can be found in the permanent collection of several notable institutions including: the Smithsonian American Art Museum, DC; The Art Institute of Chicago Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, IL; The High Museum, GA; The Museum of Contemporary Art, GA; and the Yale University Art Gallery, CT. Dettmer has recently lectured at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and The New York Public Library in New York. In 2014, he spoke at the TED Youth conference and his TED talk was recently featured on their home page. His work has been featured on the CBS Evening News, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Chicago Tribune, ArtNews, Modern Painters, Wired, The Village Voice, Harper's and NPR among others.


Packer Schopf Gallery    942 W. Lake St Chicago, IL 60607    www.packergallery.com

Exhibition Run: May 8–June 27     Gallery Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 11:00am to 5:30pm

Contact Aron Packer at [email protected]    Phone: 312.226.8984    Fax: 312.432.1235