Founder & Director, New Media Program (NMP)
In 2017, I founded the New Media Program (NMP): a community-based residency housed in the Mana BSMT (basement) at Mana Contemporary. The program aimed to foster innovation, collaboration, and exchange among artists, as well as present exhibitions and programming at the intersection of conceptual art and technology.
As Director, I organized two group residencies and four exhibitions, including Flatland as part of Mana Contemporary’s city-wide programming during Miami Art Week 2017.
NMP Exhibitions
︎ FLATLAND
Downtown Miami, Miami
December 5–December 10, 2017
Downtown Miami, Miami
December 5–December 10, 2017
Flatland is a group exhibition of eighteen artists exploring new technologies. Spanning five storefronts of Downtown Miami transformed into five conceptual levels—Dissociation, Liminality, Other Worlds, Resurface, and Flatland—the exhibition leads visitors on a cognitive journey of many dimensions. Inspired by Flatland (1886), the novella by Edwin Abbott about a two-dimensional square whose mind is opened to a new, three-dimensional plane, Flatland the exhibition draws parallels with our own short-sighted notion of reality, and invites one to virtually experience alternate worlds.
︎ manacontemporary.com/flatland
︎PRESS
Miami New Times, November 30, 2017
Vogue, December 5, 2017
The Creator’s Project Instagram takeover, December 9, 2017
︎ FIRST LIGHT
Mana Contemporary, Jersey City
October 15, 2017–February 1, 2018
Mana Contemporary, Jersey City
October 15, 2017–February 1, 2018
Installation view: Alex Czetwertynski, First Light, 2017, on view in the BSMT gallery. Photo: Thomas Sanchez
First Light is the first solo exhibition of NMP resident Alex Czetwertynski. Featuring six new media and light works, including sculpture and installation, the exhibition invites viewers to explore the elemental forces that power our screens and devices. Light, primary colors, and the geometry of wavelengths are among the elements without which the possibility of an image would disappear. First Light pays tribute to these hidden agents and the conditions of possibilities embedded within their framework.
︎ manacontemporary.com/firstlight
︎ THAT’S NOT IT
Mana Contemporary, Jersey City
August 19–September 2, 2017
Mana Contemporary, Jersey City
August 19–September 2, 2017
Installation view: Vincent Houzé, Fluid Structure, 2017, on view in That’s not it. Photo: John Berens
Curated by NMP resident Alex Czetwertynski, That’s not it is a group exhibition that plays with our need to categorize art practices, but insists on the “tip of the tongue” moment we all feel when confronted with the endless range of the so-called “post-new media art.” Spread across the entire basement at Mana Contemporary, the show uses the versatile studio environment as exhibition space, combining works that range from interactive sound work to machine vision and moving light sculptures. Featuring guest artists as well as artists-in-residence, and framed in the context of Mana BSMT’s New Media Program, That’s not it wraps digital practices in a loose net, but falters when asked: “what is it?”
︎ manacontemporary.com/thatsnotit
︎ Watch recap video of opening night
︎ SURFACE
Mana Contemporary, Jersey City
January 21–May 31, 2017
Mana Contemporary, Jersey City
January 21–May 31, 2017
Installation view: Sam Cannon, Self Preservation, 2017, on view in Surface. Photo: John Berens
Surface is a group exhibition that features new, experiential work by five NMP Residents who work primarily as GIF artists: Matthias Brown (Traceloops), Sam Cannon, Julian Glander, Thoka Maer, and Hayden Zezula (Zolloc).
Surface was sponsored by Giphy Arts.
︎ manacontemporary.com/surface
︎ Watch video recap of Surface opening reception
︎ PRESS
The Creator’s Project, January 20, 2017