Zooveillance at the New Media Art Gallery can be considered modern art’s answer to Netflix’s dystopian series Black Mirror. Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Mat Collishaw, and Marco Barotti’s respective works seamlessly intertwine distinct yet fluid narratives and offer us nuanced reflections on how technology molds our existence.
The show delves into the interconnection between humanity and the nature of ‘the animal’ that lingers in our own unchecked instincts. Zooveillance presents the notion of humans as primal beings entwined with technology by encapsulating the essence of the human-animal within technological constructs. Taking on darker tones, it underscores the pervasive integration of technology into our ecological and societal landscape, in turn demonstrating technology’s influence in shaping our lived environments and personal spheres.
Installation view of The Substitute in ‘The Lost Rhino’ at Natural History Museum, 2022. © Trustees of the Natural History Museum London
On a personal level, I found resonance with my own mental struggles, akin to a restless mind ensnared in the cycles of the internet and social media. I walked around Mat Collishaw’s The Machine Zone, 2019, where six mechanical birds are housed in clear plexi-cages. From their personal bird boxes, they presented themselves as Skinnerian experiments of reward-based conditioning. In this, one can discern an unsettling commentary on our voluntary seclusion within digital realms and the illusion of self-importance cultivated within screens.
Collishaw is a master of shock value who represents in his work how our preoccupation with the digital world can give way to cognitive confines that act as barriers to the external world. Left unchecked, they can relegate us to a solitary existence fixated on glowing screens, disregarding the presence of others.
Seeing ourselves as one of the birds in a box, while simultaneously an outside observer, we can see how modes of mass communication can be meticulously regulated, orchestrated through digital conduits that leave us questioning the genuineness of our interactions and the obscured manipulation underlying online engagements.
Complementing the mechanical essence of the artworks is the overarching sensory scheme of the exhibition—a visually sterile ambiance nurtured by the disquieting symphony of manipulated organic sounds, such as AI-generated primate vocalizations screaming over global twitter feeds (Marco Barotti, APES, 2022) while synthetic grunts become the echoes of a deceased, critically endangered rhinoceros (Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, The Substitute, 2019).
Within the realm of Zooveillance lies a contemplative sanctuary where viewers confront the darker implications of surrendering our agency to algorithmic gratification and boundless content consumption—a stark exploration of the “banality of evil” inherent in unconsciously handing behavioral and emotional autonomy over to digital instruments.
This is a must-see exhibition with a high caliber of work that presents a sobering yet enriching contemplation on what it means to be human in the age of technology.
Zooveillance is on view at New Media Gallery until May 5, 2024. For more information, visit newmediagallery.ca.
Written by Natasha Ponda
Feature image: Image courtesy of the Artist, Mat Collishaw
To get to the New Media Gallery, take the Expo Line Skytrain to New Westminster Station. From there, it’s a two-minute walk to the Anvil Centre, where NMG is located on the 3rd floor.