Blank Tape, Curated by Lena Hansen

January 18 – March 9, 2024

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:

Blank Tape was inspired by the ubiquity of surveillance technology in contemporary life. From social media to smart devices, surveillance technology is an inescapable part of our current reality. Even though surveillance can be a scary topic—implying dystopian and oppressive futures—Hansen argues that these dangers make it worth fully investigating how the technology impacts our lives. The artists in Blank Tape explore our complicated relationship to surveillance—and draw connections between surveillance and attitudes towards gender identity, national identity, international politics, and sex work. In doing so, Blank Tape seeks to show how surveillance technologies inform the way we think and behave, and to imagine how we can use and engage with surveillance more ethically.

The exhibition features artists working in video, animation, projection, photography, installation, and game art. Exhibiting artists include Ajunie Virk, Azzah Sultan, Caroline Yoo, Jamie McArthur, Jonathan Ellis, Lena Chen, Negin Mahzoun, Or Zubalsky, Shori Sims, Tooraj Khamenehzadeh.

ABOUT THE CURATOR:

Lena Hansen is an arts professional passionate about art and archives. During her time as the Associate Director at Aicon Contemporary, New York, she cultivated a robust roster of artists, putting emphasis on artists typically underrepresented in the New York art scene. She has curated multiple exhibitions, such as Judith Has Arrived (2021), Notes from the Motherland (2021), I Shouted My Laughter to the Stars (2022), and Feast of the Gods (2022). Lena’s curatorial practice has focused on contemporary art by South/Southeast Asian artists both from within and outside the United States. After several years working in the commercial art world, Lena is now pursuing a Masters in Library and Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh. She was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.