“A Little About Me: Four Works By Robot” explores the world of online dating.
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The New Museum in NYC is no stranger to showcasing sometimes bizarre, usually provocative works of art. After all, the museum is dedicated to exclusively delivering the most compelling contemporary installations from artists all over the world, and is the only art museum in New York City to do so. In the New Museum’s “First Look: New Art Online” series, art is curated on one of the newest mediums available: the Internet. These exhibits are just as dynamic as the paintings or photographs found in the New Museum’s many galleries, but they can be viewed right from your computer screen, and are only a click away.
Right now, First Look: New Art Online is featuring an exhibit called “A Little About Me: Four Works By Robot (John Miller and Takuji Kogo),” which uses video, composed soundtracks, audio, and script to examine the world of online dating. In the last decade, online dating has evolved from an abstract, somewhat taboo concept to an acceptable means of finding a “connection” with another person, and this project is a revealing look at personal ads and online relationships.
The exhibit from First Look is decidedly unique, and surprisingly emotive. The four short videos utilize a robot voice, hence the collection being “By Robot,” and the combined implementation of composed background music, strange images, and carefully selected words, renders the project important, yet unusual. It’s new art at its finest, with subject matter that is remarkably relatable for many people. The New Museum explains, “While short and visually spare, each video is rendered psychologically dense through the interplay of text with associative images and an electronic score,” of the four videos depicting personal ads as a visual collage.
The four videos in the exhibit “Look 49,” “Swedish Gentleman,” “A Little About Me,” and “Hi Linda,” evoke tension in their all-too-real examination of personal ads and online relationships. First Look explains how “The pieces operate as music videos, as short stories, and as meditations on looking for love in print, online, in person, and in your head today,” discussing the complexity within the short videos by Miller and Kogo. This is definitely an exhibit worth viewing, and one you can visit without even leaving your desk.
Take a look at the art online by viewing “A Little About Me: Four Works By Robot” here.