MWX 2015

MWX2015 ChicagoMWX

MWX is the exhibition initiative of Museums and the Web. Curated by Vince Dziekan, this annual exhibition represents work by contemporary artists engaging with the creative technology community through various non-conventional ways and means.

This year’s exhibition turned a spotlight on local artists from Chicago’s vibrant “dirty new media” scene. The resulting artworks exemplified the qualities associated with dirty new media – a concept that originated in Chicago – by embracing messiness, openness, distributed production, and collaboration. Produced in collaboration with Susan Chun and Abraham Ritchie from the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the ambitious program included the following artists:

  • Branger_Briz, and collaborators
  • Troy Briggs
  • Tom Burtonwood
  • jonCates && Patrick Quinn
  • Jennifer Chan, Chris Collins, Chris Reeves, and collaborators
  • Jon Kannenberg
  • Geoffrey Alan Rhodes

Over three days, the MWX exhibition presented site-specific installations at the Palmer House in “secret” room locations; incidental artworks found in the vicinity of the hotel, in and around downtown Chicago; and interactive, artist-led “pop up” events. 

Complete list of installations, incidental artworks and artist-led events:

Secret room installations at the Palmer House

Two groups of artists from Chicago’s dirty new media community installed works in “secret” rooms at the Palmer House Hilton. Viewing times and locations were kept closely guarded. Information was progressively leaked via social media and an accompanying “whisper campaign”. The MW app – designed by STQRY – was employed to communicate current information about locations and times, as well as providing a complete inventory of artists’ statements, images, and further notes on the projects. The MW twitter channel (#mw2015) also provided hints and reminders about the installations and works.

Suite

A collective art show of 12 Chicago-based digital artists.

Local artists Jennifer Chan, Chris Collins and Chris Reeves coordinated Suite – a group art show of emerging Chicago-based post-Internet artists who subtly redecorated a hidden hotel room with inconspicuous objects and small interventions within the space itself. The resulting collective work exemplified ways in which the growing prevalence of online retailers (such as CafePress, Zazzle and Walmart) has facilitated a wide variety of outsourced art production practices. 

Visit http://pyrite.club/ for more information about Suite, its ongoing development and spin-offs.

Contributing artists:

  • Amanda Lee Anderson
  • Kelsey Brod
  • Jennifer Chan
  • Jon Chambers
  • Chris Collins
  • Lori Felker
  • Aurorae Parker
  • Chris Reeves
  • Bailey Romaine
  • Phil Spangler
  • Johnny Szczepaniak
  • Aaron Walker

virtualpublic.network

Collaborative networked performance produced by Branger_Briz.

Branger_Briz is a collective of artists, educators and programmers whose highly collaborative work articulates the cultural literacies of our contemporary digital landscape. For MWX they presented virtualpublic.network, a site-specific installation that connected artists with ties to Chicago’s experimental new-media community for a globally distributed networked desktop performance.

Visit http://virtualpublic.network for more information and participating artists.

Incidental artworks

Troy Briggs

Briggs replaced a light bulb in an iconic downtown Chicago landmark that communicates text from the website http://shuttershudder.net.

jonCates && Patrick Quinn

The artists co-published a limited edition series of offline interventions in the spirit of glitch and dirty new media. These pamphlets were made available from selected newspaper vending machines in the vicinity of the Palmer House, and through other “dead drops” around the conference venue.

John Kannenberg

Kannenberg’s A Sound Map of the Art Institute of Chicago was made available via the conference app. Delegates could experience the piece during the conference’s opening reception at the Art Institute of Chicago, or as part of a later personal visit.

Artist-led events

Tom Burtonwood

Burtonwood presented a series of 3D printed artist books as part of an interactive pop-up bookstall alongside the conference’s exhibit hall.

Kimchi and Chips

Artist duo Kimchi and Chips conducted a daylong workshop on digital emulsion techniques at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago prior to kicking off the Museums and Web conference with their opening keynote presentation.

Geoffrey Alan Rhodes

Rhodes and John Russick (Curator at the Chicago History Museum) conducted an augmented reality tour of downtown Chicago that featured their collaborative project, Chicago Zero Zero.

The Curatoriate

The MWX 2015 curatoriate was comprised of Vince Dziekan, Monash University, Australia; Susan Chun and Abraham Ritchie, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; and Liz Neely.