ZOOVEILLANCE

The New Media Gallery New Westminster Canada, February 18 — May 5, 2024

I was lucky enough to make a short trip to British Columbia in March, where I caught a fantastic exhibition at my favourite Canadian gallery, the New Media Gallery, situated just outside Vancouver in New Westminster. I’ve written about this gallery before, too. In my mind, it is undoubtedly the most exciting gallery in Western Canada. Regarding the kind of shows they put on and the whole approach to curation, it is probably my favourite gallery in Canada — although I admit that I’m probably missing more than a few.

ZOOVEILLANCE is the current exhibition’s title, which exemplifies the contradiction of contemporary technological advancement through the mediated observation of animal activity. Artists Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Mat Collishaw, and Marco Barotti have developed their contributions to the show. All are based on rigorous scientific, aesthetic and technological research. The artworks address our collective concerns about two powerful, hyper-transformative technologies: AI and Social Media . These emerged of at the tail end of in the 20th century and have been huge disruptors, and now dominate our present condition.