wwwunderkammer

A Solo Show of New Work in XR
by Carla Gannis / C.A.R.L.A. G.A.N.

with original music by R. Luke DuBois

Cabinets of curiosity emerged in 16th – Century Europe as whole rooms – repositories – filled with art and antiques, natural specimens, scientific instruments, and exotica collected from the far reaches of the globe.  As precursors to modern museums, these wunderkammeren – translated literally as “wonder chambers” – were pedagogical in purpose, designed to reflect the erudition of collectors as much as their wealth and accomplishments, but they also aimed to provoke audiences’ imaginations, presenting artistic depictions of myths alongside natural objects, and frequently confusing science with superstition in their speculative reconstruction of the “theater of the world.”

In her exhibition at Telematic, wwwunderkammer, Brooklyn-based artist, Carla Gannis appeals to the cabinet of curiosities to explore the boundaries between grounded reality and virtual reality, nature and artifice, science and science-fiction in contemporary networked culture and society.