Social Media Like You’ve Never Seen It Before
December 4, 2017
“Reminder that clothes are required for the event — physical nudity is a valid mode of expression, but you cannot be naked at the Gowanus Ballroom on Dec. 9. Spiritually naked, though … unleash your Jim Carrey on the masses.” This is one of the first posts by performing arts group Hidden Currencies in the Facebook event for its immersive art exhibit, “Live Stream // Fever Dream,” aiming to explore the effects of social media on society. The group includes students from NYU and the New School among others.
Four students working on the exhibition — Dasha Zagurskaya, who is a freshman studying journalism at CAS, and New School students Duncan Figurski, Marcus Banks and Kai Mote — sat down with WSN to talk about what people can expect from the exhibit and why they should attend next Saturday.
When asked to describe the event to someone who knows nothing about art Figurski called “Live Stream // Fever Dream” an “observation to the submission to the ritual of media in the era of Trump.” This observation will be taking place through a variety of different experiences and mediums — everything from painting and sculpture to dance and performance. Figurski continues to talk about the overwhelming presence of social media in our world today and how “these facets have been utilized and maladapted and adapted in positive ways to be able to sell us [as a society] all of these ideas.” Thus, the exhibition will focus on how media can influence us to think a certain way and how this impacts us as individuals and as a society as a whole.
In one feature of this mass event, “The Monsanto Wellness Lounge,” participants will experience an endless stream of media and become aware of what we absorb every day through media and how much of this is real or fake. The space, which used to be an alleyway between cannonball and ammunition factories, will stretch for two floors. The first will hold dances and display artwork and sculpture, while the second will hold live musical performances and more performance art pieces.
The eclecticity of the exhibit comes from Hidden Currencies’ desire to create an interdisciplinary variable that allows for a multiplicity of different perspectives on one particular topic, in this case social media, as described by Mote. Inspiration for this collaborative project stems from rituals we create to cope with the oversaturation of media or intense bogs of static we experience daily. Mote hopes that all who visit the exhibit will “have a religious experience from the Media God.” Expect your entire view on social media to be altered and to think twice about how all the media you consume affects you in both positive and negative ways.
This project, which has been three months in the making, is sure to be an unforgettable and immersive experience unlike any other. Be sure to stop by between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m. next Saturday to experience the spectacle for yourself.
To learn more about Hidden Currencies, visit the group’s Instagram and Facebook page, both at Hidden Currencies. Your eyes are sure to be opened to the hidden attributes and consequences of the beloved swiping, snapping and scrolling we do every day.
A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Dec. 4 print edition.
Email Julia Fields at entertainment@nyunews.com.