Natural Paradox

Inside a Dark Store opens tonight at @kreuzbergpavillon! Saturday, 17. December | 6-10 p.m. Kreuzberg Pavillon Naunynstraße 53, 10999 Berlin (U8 Moritzplatz/Kottbusser Tor) 📦 Inside a Dark Store Gülsüm Güler Erin Mitchell Joshua Schwebel Markus Zimmermann Kreuzberg Pavillon Naunynstraße 53, 10999 Berlin Curated by Heiko Pfreundt und Lisa Susanne Schorm Funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe 🇪🇺 @guelsuem.gueler @joshua.then.and.now @markus.m.zimmermann @heikopfreundt @lisasusanneschorm (at Kreuzberg Pavillon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmRbMWKo9sk/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

In the past year, I’ve been experiencing the effects of some pretty severe burnout. Moving at a different pace, not so much by choice but obligation. Outside the collective measure of productivity, even time feels like it starts to move differently. Being out of work is like being out of time. Around this time last year, I was closing an exhibition with @kreuzbergpavillon called A Prime Dystopia, a project that poked fun at the generic formula of startup marketing but also imagined Kreuzberg Pavillon, more seriously, like many other self-organized, independent creative spaces, as a product of potential economic displacement—not unlike what I experienced living in San Francisco, when, in 2012, the city began to offer financial incentives to lure companies like Twitter, whose office still looms over San Francisco’s contested Mid-Market area, away from Silicon Valley. To end this year, we open a new exhibition building on those themes, this time, however, with an focus on the opacity of the “dark store” model, a retailer that resembles a conventional supermarket but fulfills only online orders and is inaccessible to the public, and its contemporary relationship to self-organization, labor agency, and class consciousness. Inside a Dark Store opens this Saturday, 17. December, 18:00-22:00 at Kreuzberg Pavillon, Berlin 📦 Big thanks to @heikopfreundt und @lisasusanneschorm for their continued interest and support of this work and for expanding it with the perspectives of artists @guelsuem.gueler, Vika Kirchenbauer, @joshua.then.and.now, and @markus.m.zimmermann 💙 Inside a Dark Store Gülsüm Güler Erin Mitchell Joshua Schwebel Markus Zimmermann Opening : This Saturday 17.12.2022 | 18:00 - 22:00 Viewing Hours: 17.12.22-29.01.23 Sat, Sun. 1-6 pm (except 24.-25.12. and 31.12-01.01)* *'The employee' by Joshua Schwebel is visible from the outside, daily from 4-10 pm (Pause between 24.12.22 - 06.01.23) Curated by Heiko Pfreundt und Lisa Susanne Schorm Design: Erin Mitchell Funded by Presentations of Contemporary Visual Art of the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe @senkulteu (at Kreuzberg Pavillon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmJ8nb_oWGw/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Received my print copy of Kann KI Kunst? Vol. 278 from @kunstforum_international over the weekend! Super excited to be included in @anika’s column regarding the short looping mechanic that has come to characterize a lot of digital art in the seemingly burgeoning NFT market. The column is in German, but for non-German speakers, here’s my original quote in English: “While set up to run endlessly, the 360° loop often lasts only a short amount of time, like a gif. After a few loops, my mind establishes the pattern that it will loop forever. There’s a comfort in this, even if I’ve moved my attention elsewhere. For me, it parallels the infinity scroll built into many of our apps (like this one). You can keep scrolling endlessly without hitting a natural break, which also starts to branch into the idea of dopamine loop.”  If you’d like to read more, the link to the column is here (and in my bio): http://www.kunstforum.de/artikel/wallet-art-der-perfekte-loop/. 🔁 https://www.instagram.com/p/CXZHBI7oo7o/?utm_medium=tumblr

Thanks @anika for including my thoughts on the looping phenomenon in NFT art—or Wallet Art, as she terms it—in @kunstforum_international! The column is in German, but here’s an excerpt below in English: “When the hype about NFTs started following Beeple's auction record at Christie's in the spring of 2021, suddenly everyone was talking about NFT art. (…) Of course, that was reason enough for the international media to deal with something that previously only nerds and experts had dealt with: digital art. And digital art was somehow equated with NFT art, and that, in turn, was equated with trashy memes. And then, like everyone else who had been dealing with the topic for a long time, I was slightly annoyed by this short circuit, but even more so by the term NFT art. What is that supposed to be? In any case, I said loudly on social media, "NFT art" doesn't exist because an NFT is a certificate of authenticity for a digital asset stored on the blockchain. (…) So a few months and many conversations later, I changed my mind. There is NFT art, but the term "NFT art" just doesn't work because an NFT is a certificate of authenticity. It's like calling art generally contract art, because when you buy art, you enter into a contract. So what's a suitable term? Wallet Art. Why? Because the wallet is the new cultural space on the Internet, for which art is made precisely. Now, of course, you could say that it's like talking about museum art or gallery art, because these are spaces too. But there is land art, installation art, and public art, art that is site-specific and has certain characteristics. Wallet Art is the maximum reduction in form and content. In an endless loop.” Happy to be included alongside @austinleee @olive_allen, @reepsone, @lucietae and @jamsutton 💥🤯💥 Full article at link in bio 📲 https://www.instagram.com/p/CWlWVQoI7xq/?utm_medium=tumblr

A Prime Dystopia is on view now at Kreuzberg Pavillon (@kreuzbergpavillon) ✳️ The site-specific installation is visible day and night from the sidewalk in front of the exhibition space, shifting from light to dark mode daily as the sun sets. A Prime Dystopia will be on view until the end of November alongside an ongoing digital archive of related links and articles documenting exploitative working practices around precarious, low-wage, and gig-economy labor and the current self-organization of workers in the tech industry in Berlin and beyond. A Prime Dystopia Kreuzberg Pavillon Naunynstraße 53, 10999 Berlin #aprimedystopia #kreuzbergpavillon #erinmitchell (at Kreuzberg Pavillon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CV6D6VroGrX/?utm_medium=tumblr

EXTENDED: A Prime Dystopia has been extended an additional three weeks! The exhibition will be on view at Kreuzberg Pavillon (@kreuzbergpavillon) until the end of November. A reflection of the changing face of the city of Berlin, dubbed ‘Silicon Allee,’ for its reputation as one of Europe’s emerging tech capitals, the street-level installation assimilates itself into the rising tide of food delivery “dark stores” and e-mobility charging hubs popping up around the city. Mimicking the pulsing green LED signal of pay-per-minute e-scooters, the installation turns a vivid glowing green at sundown, a tacit nod to the scooters parked just meters away, signaling their always-on availability around every corner. ✳️ A Prime Dystopia Kreuzberg Pavillon Naunynstraße 53, 10999 Berlin #aprimedystopia #kreuzbergpavillon #erinmitchell #startup #delivery #escooter #gentrification #contemporaryart (at Kreuzberg Pavillon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVp9bV1IDTU/?utm_medium=tumblr

A Prime Dystopia is a site-specific installation at Kreuzberg Pavillon (@kreuzbergpavillon) in Berlin-Kreuzberg, a neighborhood increasingly affected by gentrification and financial development. Expanding on the concept of the Amazon ZenBooth announced earlier this year, A Prime Dystopia applies its logic on a local scale, specific to the Berlin-Kreuzberg area. In a moment in which startup grocery delivery “dark stores” and e-scooter micro-mobility charging hubs are popping up in former storefronts across the city, the exhibition speculates on the future of Kreuzberg Pavillon and other project spaces in the neighborhood’s shifting economic landscape: in short, as displaced by another venture-capital funded, aspiring “unicorn” startup. The area around Kreuzberg Pavillon, which includes Oranienstrasse, Moritzplatz, and Kottbusser Tor, is a hotspot for e-scooters and food delivery riders. Blocks away, you’ll find multi-million euro commercial real estate developments Prinz17 and TheShelf nearing completion, looking to attract “Magnates, new talents, and digital pioneers” to the Berlin’s ‘creative center:’ Kreuzberg. The installation co-opts the friendly but sterile, neo-corporate visual language of these developments in the neighborhood’s ecosystem. Like the e-scooters often parked nearby, the installation itself also turns a vivid green in the evening, signaling its 24/7, always-on availability. A Prime Dystopia is on display until Sunday, October 24th at Kreuzberg Pavillon, Naunynstraße 53, 10999 Berlin. #aprimedystopia #kreuzbergpavillon #erinmitchell #zenbooth #berlinstartup #darkstores #gentrification #venturecapital #kreuzberg (at Kreuzberg Pavillon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVIyqheo7h0/?utm_medium=tumblr

To continue the illusion, there’s a QR code incorporated directly into the street-level installation of A Prime Dystopia. When scanned, instead of pulling up a page on your device where you can download the app, the QR code links to a page of news articles covering reported workers’ rights violations and self-organization efforts in the tech industry from the beginning of this year onward. For the duration of the exhibition, the page will act as an ongoing archive of relevant news articles and media, specifically seeking to bring visibility to the exploitative working practices around precarious, low-wage, and gig-economy labor, as well as the current self-organization of workers in the tech industry in Berlin and beyond. The online archive will be live for the duration of the exhibition, until Sunday, 24. October. If you’re also interested in these topics and would like to submit an article to the archive, please contact me! A Prime Dystopia 25.09.-24.10.2021 Kreuzberg Pavillon (@kreuzbergpavillon) Naunynstraße 53, 10999 Berlin 🌱 #aprimedystopia #kreuzbergpavillon #erinmitchell #zenbooth #amazoncrime #berlinvsamazon #berlinstartup #workersrights #solidarity (at Kreuzberg Pavillon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CUxuYbpoU9W/?utm_medium=tumblr

Expanding on Amazon’s AmaZen ZenBooth (announced earlier this year as part of the company’s WorkingWell health and wellness initiative for US Fulfillment Center workers), I’m happy to share my latest project A Prime Dystopia, on display now at Kreuzberg Pavillon (@kreuzbergpavillon) in Berlin. Co-opting the friendly, approachable tone and visual language of tech industry advertising—flat, clean vector graphics, bold typography, and aspirational imagery—the installation seeks to bring attention to the generic, formulaic marketing communications of aspiring “unicorn” startups. While these companies position themselves as young, idealistic upstarts, they rely on the same traditional hierarchies of global financial power and systematic inequality they often claim to circumvent. Seeking to evoke a sense of uncannyness from passersby, the installation reimagines the Kreuzberg Pavillon project space as a product of the neighborhood’s continuing development and gentrification: in short, displaced. As competing, venture capital-funded delivery startup “dark stores” begin to surface in former storefront spaces across Berlin, it begs the question: how will these structures of international financial power continue to transform our local communities—and to whose benefit? Embedded in the window installation is a QR code paired with a call-to-action to download a hypothetical app. However, the forwarding link suggests another kind of call to action. For the duration of the exhibition, the page will act as an ongoing archive of relevant news articles documenting the exploitative working practices around precarious, low-wage, and gig-economy labor, as well as the current self-organization of workers in Berlin and beyond. The exhibition is on view at Kreuzberg Pavillon until Sunday, October 24th. The exhibition is on view day and night from the sidewalk with barrier-free access. A Prime Dystopia 25.09.-24.10.2021 Kreuzberg Pavillon Naunynstraße 53, 10999 Berlin 🌱 #aprimedystopia #kreuzbergpavillon #erinmitchell #zenbooth #amazoncrime #berlinvsamazon #berlinstartup #workersrights #solidarity #contemporaryart #sitespecific (at Kreuzberg Pavillon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CUs00xrIpao/?utm_medium=tumblr

Preliminary research for my current exhibition at Kreuzberg Pavillon (@kreuzbergpavillon) in Berlin around the AmaZen ZenBooth, launched earlier this year as part of Amazon’s WorkingWell worker health and wellness initiative. Following immediate online backlash to the announcement, Amazon quickly deleted the ZenBooth promotional video, which took us inside a drab acoustic-padded phone booth with a computer, desk chair, and a few “natural” accents: a sky-patterned decal, a few small plants, and a mini desk fan. The announcement followed months of negative press coverage for Amazon, specifically in regards to complaints about the company’s grueling working conditions, union-busting practices at a Bessemer, Alabama warehouse facility and the company’s denial (and subsequent admittance and public apology) that workers often feel so pressured by productivity quotas that they resort to peeing in bottles. All this following the company’s soaring financial growth during the Covid-19 pandemic as Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos’ net worth increased by $70bn in 2020, now $197bn today. A Prime Dystopia is now on view at Kreuzberg Pavillon until 24. October 2021. Access is free and open to public, barrier-free, 24/7 at Naunynstraße 53 10999 Berlin. #aprimedystopia #kreuzbergpavillon #erinmitchell #zenbooth #amazoncrime #berlinvsamazon (at Kreuzberg Pavillon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CUYNMSzoNnW/?utm_medium=tumblr

Preliminary research for my current exhibition at Kreuzberg Pavillon (@kreuzbergpavillon) in Berlin around the AmaZen ZenBooth, launched earlier this year as part of Amazon’s WorkingWell worker health and wellness initiative. Following immediate online backlash to the announcement, Amazon quickly deleted the ZenBooth promotional video, which took us inside a drab acoustic-padded phone booth with a computer, desk chair, and a few “natural” accents: a sky-patterned decal, a few small plants, and a mini desk fan. The announcement followed months of negative press coverage for Amazon, specifically in regards to complaints about the company’s grueling working conditions, union-busting practices at a Bessemer, Alabama warehouse facility and the company’s denial (and subsequent admittance and public apology) that workers often feel so pressured by productivity quotas that they resort to peeing in bottles. All this following the company’s soaring financial growth during the Covid-19 pandemic as Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos’ net worth increased by $70bn in 2020, now $197bn today. A Prime Dystopia is now on view at Kreuzberg Pavillon until 24. October 2021. Access is free and open to public, barrier-free, 24/7 at Naunynstraße 53 10999 Berlin. #aprimedystopia #kreuzbergpavillon #erinmitchell #zenbooth #amazoncrime #berlinvsamazon (at Kreuzberg Pavillon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CUYNMSzoNnW/?utm_medium=tumblr

Looking for more 𝓞𝓻𝓰𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓬 𝓔𝓷𝓰𝓪𝓰𝓮𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽 in your feed? Maybe something ✨? Scroll on, in, over, around, and without limits in your desktop browser for 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌 at @virginiabianchigallery! 💻🌱 𝒜𝓊𝓉𝑜-𝐸𝓃𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 (𝒮𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓀𝓁𝑒), model pictured above, is also the last of three video artworks released for the exhibition! For more information, please visit vbgselection.com. #virginiabianchigallery #erinmitchell #organicengagement #attentioneconomy #newmediaart #digitalart #3d #render #✨ #filter https://www.instagram.com/p/COyGxWCFNXv/?igshid=1mxtili59te3i

The Terminal: Human Shaped Whole closed this past Saturday, May 1st @anonymousgallery in NYC! A huge thanks to curators @offsiteproject1989 and to @jisolini who directed and compiled the full 360° video piece 🙏 Such a pleasure to be featured alongside such a talented group of artists, including: Bob Bicknell-Knight (@bob.bk1) Ian Bruner (@ideath_) Joshua Citarella (@joshuacitarella) Jessica Evans (@jessicaevans.art) James Irwin (@james_irwin) Claire Jervert (@claire_jervert) Kakia Konstantinaki (@kakioni) Angeline Meitzler (@angelinefromspace) and Neale Willis (@nealewillis) 🔚 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝: ℍ𝕦𝕞𝕒𝕟 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕖𝕕 𝕎𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕖 📦 [April 8th - May 1st 2021] 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘆 (@anonymousgallery) 136 Baxter Street, New York Directed by: Jason Isolini (@jisolini) Curated by: 𝗢𝗳𝗳 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 (@offsiteproject1989) #theterminal #anonymousgallery #offsiteproject #jasonisolini #ai #humanshapedwhole #360 #videoart #mediaart #automation #erinmitchell (at anonymous gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/CObCzQGlMlu/?igshid=89l8mvhk7d9h

For the final hours of the Terminal, the 𝕗𝕦𝕝𝕝 𝟛𝟞𝟘° 𝕧𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕠 𝕚𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕠𝕟𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕖 until midnight on Saturday, May 1st! 🌐🔗 Regardless of where you are in the world, you can move through the film in 360 degrees in your browser at anonymousgallery.com/video (link in bio). Directed by Jason Isolini (@jisolini) and curated by the Off Site Project (@offsiteproject1989), the film features works in various forms from: Bob Bicknell-Knight (@bob.bk1) Ian Bruner (@ideath_) Joshua Citarella (@joshuacitarella) Jessica Evans (@jessicaevans.art) James Irwin (@james_irwin) Claire Jervert (@claire_jervert) Kakia Konstantinaki (@kakioni) Angeline Meitzler (@angelinefromspace) Erin Mitchell (@erinmitchll) and Neale Willis (@nealewillis) select audio tracks by: @__slippii If you are in New York and would like to see the show, the physical exhibition with sculptural projection is still open today and tomorrow from 2-6pm! 🏁 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝: ℍ𝕦𝕞𝕒𝕟 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕖𝕕 𝕎𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕖 📦 [April 8th - May 1st 2021] 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘆 (@anonymousgallery) 136 Baxter Street, New York #theterminal #anonymousgallery #offsiteproject #jasonisolini #ai #humanshapedwhole #360 #videoart #mediaart #automation #erinmitchell (at anonymous gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/COTJcAJIiHJ/?igshid=js0ackchemvi

To accompany the 360° video work and online exhibition, @burnselliott and @pitarreola of @offsiteproject1989 have also written a series of short essays for The Terminal. “𝘋𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 (2021) proposes a technological detoxification and administration of vitamin D for exhausted and sunlight deprived Fulfillment Center pickers. Imagined as a biopolitical alternative to clocking-in and clocking-out it envisions the expansion of corporate control into our very physiology. At the same time, within the 360° video it serves a practical purpose, offering breathing space between the onslaught of visual information.” For the full texts and information about available artworks, please visit anonymousgallery.com (link in bio). 🔛 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝: ℍ𝕦𝕞𝕒𝕟 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕖𝕕 𝕎𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕖 📦 [April 8th - May 1st 2021] 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘆 (@anonymousgallery) 136 Baxter Street, New York Directed by: Jason Isolini (@jisolini) Curated by: 𝗢𝗳𝗳 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 (@offsiteproject1989) #theterminal #anonymousgallery #offsiteproject #jasonisolini #ai #humanshapedwhole #360 #videoart #mediaart #automation #corporatewellness #sunflare #erinmitchell (at anonymous gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/CN9dl0wF0Ca/?igshid=bes7fg7dn7el

“Crossing the threshold it happens in an instance, all surroundings dissipate, sound vanishes, the experience of the body dissolves, momentarily all are replaced by a radiant white light, a secular experience of the divine. Some describe it as if they were communing with an omniscient algorithm.” My work 𝘋𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 (2021) is one of many segments included in the 360° video work The Terminal: Human Shaped Whole at @anonymousgallery. I’ve also created two limited-run editions to accompany the exhibition: 𝘋𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 (2021) Digital recreation of stock sun flare filters; Sublimation print on neoprene fabric with rubber base. Edition of 10 + 1 AP 𝘕𝘦𝘰-𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘴 (2021) Digital recreation of sun flare filters with 3D-modelled typography; Inkjet print on reinforced commercial vinyl with grommets. Edition of 5 + 1 AP For more information, please visit anonymousgallery.com (full link in bio). Huge thanks to @burnselliott and @pitarreola of @offsiteproject1989 for the articulate and thoughtful accompanying text! 🙏 🔛 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝: ℍ𝕦𝕞𝕒𝕟 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕖𝕕 𝕎𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕖 📦 [April 8th - May 1st 2021] 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘆 (@anonymousgallery) 136 Baxter Street, New York Directed by: Jason Isolini (@jisolini) Curated by: 𝗢𝗳𝗳 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 (@offsiteproject1989) #theterminal #anonymousgallery #offsiteproject #jasonisolini #ai #humanshapedwhole #360 #videoart #mediaart #automation #corporatewellness #sunflare #erinmitchell (at anonymous gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/CN7fNt7F6DI/?igshid=1wi364kgitkva