The George Eastman Museum has announced #LarsonShindelman #Mobilize, a photography exhibition by artists Nate Larson and Marni Shindelman is now on view through May 26. Both artists will be in Rochester to speak about their ongoing project Geolocation, which led to this exhibition, on Thursday, January 31, at 6 p.m. at the Eastman Museum.
Conversation with the Artists: Nate Larson and Marni Shindelman
Thursday, January 31, 6 p.m., Dryden Theatre
Nate Larson and Marni Shindelman and George Eastman Museum associate curator Jamie M. Allen will have a conversation about the exhibition #LarsonShindelman #Mobilize as well as the artists’ project working with youth from the Out Alliance. Free to members, $10 general, and $5 students.
#LarsonShindelman #Mobilize is the culmination of new work by the artists, who work collectively as Larson Shindelman. The photographs are an extension of their ongoing series Geolocation, which in which they use data to create photographs and immersive installations related to social issues relevant in cities across the United States.
Larson Shindelman traveled to Rochester in July 2018 to create new work for Geolocation. Working with the DOLLY (Digital OnLine Life and You) Project, a research lab at the University of Kentucky, Larson Shindelman were able to source publicly available data from Twitter that showed trends in the use of specific hashtags, such as #BlackLivesMatter, in Rochester. They used the GPS information embedded in the social media posts to return to the sites where these public statements were made. They then documented each location with photographs. After carefully editing and selecting one picture to represent each location, they digitally added the text from the original tweets to the image. These works examine how smartphones have contributed to new ways of expressing oneself in public and a new era of social justice.
“This new work by Larson Shindelman underscores the power of social media as a way to assert one’s identity, call out media bias, and create new forms of protest,” said Jamie M. Allen, the Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Associate Curator, Department of Photography. “In their art, Larson Shindelman transform ephemeral bits of data into works that prompt discussions about public and private information, as well as social issues surrounding a citizen’s right to protest, gun violence, and discrimination based on race, gender, and/or sexual orientation. The final works tell a larger story about mass communication in relation to protest movements and racial politics in contemporary American society.”
The exhibition also includes an installation consisting of photographs the artists selected from public Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr posts tagged with #IfTheyGunnedMeDown. This hashtag began trending just after Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.
#LarsonShindelman #Mobilize is generously supported by the Rubens Family Foundation.
Related Exhibition
Dear Jeff
February 1–March 28
Gallery Q, 100 College Ave
Dear Jeff is an exhibition of collaborative photographic works by Out Alliance youth created from a youth workshop led by Larson Shindelman in Rochester last July that focused on technology-driven mapping and social identity in the digital age. Over a three-week period, the participants met twice a week at the Out Alliance and the George Eastman Museum to learn about social justice and art making—in particular, ideas about social identity, self-representation on social media, and the use of social media as a platform to organize a group of people and protest. The participants created their own photographs and collaborated on Dear Jeff, a book showcasing their work.
Workshop co-organized by the Eastman Museum and the Out Alliance. Book designed and printed with support from Hot Take Press, Cincinnati. Student photographs printed with support from MICA/ Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore.
Dear Jeff Opening Reception
Gallery Q
February 1, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Several of the participants will discuss their work and the program during the opening.
Free to the public.
About Gallery Q
Gallery Q provides an opportunity for community members to experience art and for artists to bring their work to the community. At Gallery Q all of the art and the artists are supportive of LGBTQ+ identities. Gallery Q hosts exhibits of different styles and mediums, including photography, painting, sculpture as well as traditional artisan crafts. No artistic medium is overlooked. Many times, the items in the show will be available for purchase with a percentage of all sales supporting the LGBTQ+ Resource Center and Gallery Q. For more information, visit outalliance.org.
About the George Eastman Museum
Founded in 1947, the George Eastman Museum is the world’s oldest photography museum and one of the largest film archives in the United States, located on the historic Rochester estate of entrepreneur and philanthropist George Eastman, the pioneer of popular photography. Its holdings comprise more than 400,000 photographs, 28,000 motion picture films, the world’s preeminent collection of photographic and cinematographic technology, one of the leading libraries of books related to photography and cinema, and extensive holdings of documents and other objects related to George Eastman. As a research and teaching institution, the Eastman Museum has an active publishing program and, through its two joint master’s degree programs with the University of Rochester, makes critical contributions to the fields of film preservation and of photographic preservation and collection management. For more information, visit eastman.org.
