Fragment(ed)ing is an exhibition that explores the wide-ranging concept of fragmentation and what it means to be whole. In today’s world, built from remnants of “dissolved social organizations, mass movements past, ruined states, and crippled notions of the public sphere,” does it still make sense to think about wholeness? The artworks featured here offer diverse answers and pose further questions.
Explore three rooms where artists delve into themes such as:
Environmental and Historical Remnants: Lost histories in urban and rural settings.
Fracturing Reality: Examples of the limits and expansion of AI and the digital realm.
Bodily and Societal Differences: How we perceive and construct identities.
Inspired by 20th-century French philosopher Guy Debord and Gregory Scholette’s 2011 text Dark Matter, this exhibition invites you to ponder: What is wholeness? Debord’s idea of society as a spectacle is a key influence. He suggested that our information age creates pseudo-worlds, or “spectacles” focused on entertainment. Our contemporary spectacle is reality, supporting those in power. Yet, Debord believed we could resist this by creating situations—real-world events and exhibitions (like this one) driven by curiosity. In an era of digital reality, AI, Deepfakes, and fake news, what will our world become?
Through the works of eleven contemporary artists, the ideas of Debord and Scholette, though from different times, come alive. What answers or new questions will we discover? What is the fate of our high-tech spectacle?
Please dive into Fragment(ed)ing and join the conversation. What does wholeness mean to you in a fragmented world?
Special Thanks To: Zo Gallery, all of the artists, my students who helped install the show, and the Maryland State Arts Council for sponsoring the exhibition
