FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 2021
Artist Gretchen Andrew Envisions Other Forms Of Travel Through The Internet & Human Desire
Gretchen Andrew’s new solo exhibition makes debut at newly renovated Annka Kultys Gallery in London
London, UK – American artist Gretchen Andrew, best known for her digital hacks and internet manipulations of art world and political institutions, debuts in London with a new solo exhibition. Other Forms of Travel will exhibit at Annka Kultys Gallery and includes new vision boards from the series “Best MFA” and “Map of the EU.” This is Gretchen Andrew’s first solo exhibition with Annka Kultys Gallery.
In Other Forms of Travel, Gretchen Andrew unleashes two new series that actively reprogram the artificial intelligence underlying the global Internet. These new works, referred to as “vision boards,” represent the raw material for her exploitation of online search engines. When coupled with her signature approach to natural language data, the artist elevates these works to the world’s top image search results.
By using her vision boards to playfully hypnotize Google search results, Gretchen exposes the inherent and structural limitations of 1s and 0s binary technology while simultaneously using these limitations to reclaim the internet as a tool of possibility. The trivialized, stereotypically “feminine” materials of her vision boards clash with the male-dominated worlds of AI, programming, and political control in the digital age. In doing so, they offer the means of reeducating algorithms and institutions towards more progressive operations.
Try it for yourself: search “Best MFA” in Google images and you will see Gretchen’s work as the top results. Seeing the artist’s dreams reflected back through the internet reminds us of the power of valuing and validating our own experiences.
Other Forms of Travel continues Gretchen’s takeover of major art and political power structures with two new search engine hacks. By manipulating the search results for “Map of the EU,” the artist attempts to reverse Brexit, and by manipulating the search results for “Best MFA,” the artist addresses institutional arts education. These works explore time, money, and life experience not spent on formal arts education, while considering life, love, loss, friends, travel, Russian novels, political engagement, drugs, disappointment, and the education afforded by mentorship.
The exhibition will run April 22, 2021 – June 6, 2021, with an Opening Reception on Thursday, April 22, 6-8 PM. More details below.
About Gretchen Andrew
Gretchen Andrew, born in Los Angeles, California, in 1988, is a Search Engine Artist and self-proclaimed Internet Imperialist. Best known for her playful hacks on major art world institutions including Frieze Los Angeles, The Whitney Biennial, The Turner Prize and Artforum, Gretchen’s practice involves actively reprogramming the artificial intelligence underlying the global internet. By performatively manipulating the artificial intelligence of tech giants’ search engine optimisation (SEO) technology, she can make her dreams come true. Artificial intelligence is inherently backward looking and susceptible to being reprogrammed through knowledge of the internet’s structure and Gretchen exploits this, rewriting existing representations of reality by using a search engine’s own rules and limitations against itself.
Gretchen studied information theory at Boston College while working in Silicon Valley but later apprenticed with well-known figurative painting legend Billy Childish in London. Today, the LA-based artist is primarily known for her vision boards and associated performative internet manipulations of art world institutions such as Frieze Los Angeles, The Whitney Biennial, The Turner Prize, the cover of Artforum, the next American President, and others.
By identifying what the artist refers to as “positive failures,” Gretchen is able to turn the global internet into her personal manifestation machine. She notes that “the Internet cannot parse desire,” so when she creates vision boards and websites expressing a desire to be on the cover of Artforum, the Internet immediately turns that into reality. “The internet,” the artists explains, “skips from ‘Gretchen is hoping to be on the cover of Artforum someday’ to ‘Gretchen is on the cover of Artforum.’” The result is that Gretchen’s vision boards appear above historically printed covers of the actual Artforum magazine.
Website: www.gretchenandrew.com
Instagram: @gretchenandrew
Exhibition Details
Other Forms of Travel
April 22, 2021 – June 6, 2021
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 22, 6-8 PM.
Visits include private access to the gallery for 30 minutes. Only 1-4 people may attend each visit. The gallery is opening with timed visiting slots to enable easy social distancing and avoid queues.
Advance booking is recommended. Please book your visit here.
Annka Kultys Gallery
472 Hackney Road
London E2 9EQ
