Screen Walk with Cat Bluemke and Jonathan Carroll (SpekWork)
In Screen Walks, a series of live-streamed explorations of digital spaces, selected artists and researchers investigate artistic strategies taking place online. The project gives an insight into practices using the screen as a medium. From re-contextualising pictures found on online marketplaces and uncovering data brokers’ invisible circulation of images to analysing in-game photography and the social, political and economic implications of games – Screen Walks examines various approaches, offers a behind-the-scenes look at artists’ work and uncovers new, current and forgotten digital spaces. Screen Walks is a collaboration between The Photographers’ Gallery in London and Fotomuseum Winterthur.
The event is free and takes place on Zoom. Details on how to access the talk will be confirmed upon registration. REGISTER HERE.
Biography:
Digital artists Cat Bluemke (b. 1993, CA) and Jonathan Carroll (b. 1990, CA) specialise in game design, expanded reality and performance. United under their collective persona as SpekWork Studio, they make experiences that span the digital spectrum, from interactive games and comics to immersive reality experiences and live performances. These projects probe technology’s ability to obscure the lines between work and play. They explore technology’s duality as both a labour-saving device and tool of exploitation. Their works often engage with the struggles of precarious and feminised workers, the demographic that often finds itself at the crossroads of technological advances and pitfalls. They draw inspiration from their lives as precarious digital freelancers while learning from their communities and the oppressive systems they seek to unravel. Recently, they’re focusing on the ways work imprints upon our bodies and health by drawing on personal histories.
With ten years of exhibition history, they’ve shown internationally with prominent institutions like Rhizome and the New Museum (2020) and the Venice Architecture Biennale (2018) as part of the American Pavilion’s corollary exhibits. Recently, they’ve exhibited with the Singapore Art Museum (2023), Art Gallery of Regina (2023), the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie (2022), InterAcess (2021) and Eyelevel Gallery (2021). With the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Rhizome and multiple provincial arts councils, the pair has self-published much of their interactive work online, making them freely available to a global audience.
Screen Walks has launched a subscription model called Folders. Via a personal folder, subscribers receive access to exclusive content such as digital artworks by the artists participating in Screen Walks. Subscribe to Folders!