New England-Based New Media Focus of Newest Emerson Contemporary Show

Emerson Contemporary will showcase the talent of emerging New England-based new media artists in a juried group exhibition at the Media Art Gallery running from July 29 – October 4.

Echoes of the Heart: The New England Media Art Biennial, will feature artists Clint Baclawski, Erik DeLuca, Iwalani Kaluhiokalani, Justin Levesque, VHF Studio, and Karlie Zhao. It is juried by Distinguished Curator-in-Residence Leonie Bradbury, Curator of Special Projects and affiliated faculty member Shana Dumont Garr, and visual artist and curator Allison Maria Rodriguez.

New media art encompasses traditional film and digital video, as well as a wide range of technology, from AI to hand-built radio. Despite this, there are few venues for emerging and mid-career video artists to showcase their work in New England. This biennial aims to expand these opportunities for the region and celebrate artists with financial and technical support and the opportunity to expand and reiterate existing and/or new works.

Rodriguez said it was an “honor” to be included in the jury. While New England can sometimes seem like a bastion for more traditional artistic mediums, it was “thrilling” to see how many new media artists from the region submitted to the call for this exhibition.

“The jury had a real challenge – in the best way!” Rodriguez said. “It proved that opportunities like this to showcase artists working in art and technology are so greatly needed, not only to support individual practices, but also to expand the conversation in the broader arts ecosystem, and I’m so grateful to the folks at Emerson Contemporary for making this happen.”

Clint Baclawski (Boston) is creating a new photographic sculptural installation, part of his ongoing scroll series to consider the photographic impulse to capture the landscape as combined with the presentation strategies of advertising.

Erik DeLuca (Rhode Island) is creating an interactive technology based object exploring silence and sound entitled White Spaces Radio.

Iwalani Kaluhiokalani (Boston) will combine innovative projection-mapping and sound to activate a challenging architectural area in the gallery’s entryway.

Justin Levesque (Maine) will reimagine his multimedia wall installation Geographical Problems for the Emerson space.

VHF Studio (Somerville, Mass.) will present a new iteration of their cheerfully riotous multi-media sculptural installation, Narcissus Looks Back: and They Love You.

Karlie Zhao (Rhode Island) will create a site-specific piece for the windows facing Avery Street, and display her delicate, evocative piece Thread in the Air, which infinitely generates poetic texts through audience interaction.

This exhibition is supported by funding from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.