Created out of an overwhelming desire to lift the voices of artists in a time of crisis and systemic collapse, the initiative arose quickly from conversations at the outbreak of the global pandemic, when Eyebeam paused its highly distinguished flagship residency for the first time in its history and closed its physical space in order to support New York City’s effort to contain Covid-19.
In the hope of invigorating artistic creation of digital futures at this moment of systemic collapse, we chose 30 daring challengers and transformers, and they will carve out a path towards a more humane vision for the future.
The participating international artists are active and engaged in a variety of milieu, movements, and contexts and their proposals range in focus from free and widely available artificial intelligence that supports Black health and healing, to addressing the devasting financial consequences of the surveillance of safe and consensual online sex workers during Covid-19.
Read about Phase Two.
Eyebeam announces artists selected for Rapid Response for a Better Digital Future
Amidst a global pandemic and international protests, an ambitious, radical, fast moving initiative to unlock artists’ potential
Projects shine a spotlight on a digital future free of surveillance
ReadProf. Ute Meta Bauer, Founding Director, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore
Suhaly Bautista-Carolina, Senior Managing Educator, Audience Development and Engagement at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Stephanie Dinkins, Artist
Brian Droitcour, Associate Editor, Art In America
Kathleen Forde, Senior Curator, PaceX
Jerron Herman, Disabled Artist
Ladi’Sasha Jones, Artist Engagement Manager, The Laundromat Project
Nora N. Khan, Writer
Prem Krishnamurthy, Partner and Director, Wkshps
Joanne McNeil, Writer
Luc Meier, Director, La Becque
Hito Steyerl, Artist
American Artist, Artist
Tara Aisha Willis, Associate Curator of Performance & Public Practice, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
R. Luke DuBois, Co-Director / Associate Professor of Integrated Digital Media, NYU, Eyebeam Board
Lauren Ruffin, Co-Founder, Crux & co-CEO and Chief External Relations Officer, Fractured Atlas
Matt Corwine, Microsoft Research
Brittni Collins, Public Art Manager, Times Square Arts
Eyebeam and La Becque, headquartered in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland, are like-minded organizations in support of visionary artistic practices who came together this year to bring three talented alumni of their respective organizations into the Rapid Response working group, through the generous support of swissnex Boston / New York. The two organizations share an ethos to use digital tools for the creation and distribution of art and support the production of physically distanced work that questions who controls dialogue and discussion in the 21st century.
Rapid Response for a Better Digital Future has been generously made possible by funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, and Jerome Foundation.
Eyebeam is grateful for the long-standing visionary support of the Atlantic Foundation and the New York Council on the Arts. We are pleased to also acknowledge the support of the Beatrice Snyder Foundation and The O’Grady Foundation. Thank you to all our donors who believe in our work.
