Group show:
Root Access
SEPTEMBER 6 2024 - SEPTEMBER 05 2025
ROOT ACCESS Opening Reception:
Friday September 6, 4pm - 7pm
(Entire Building & The Sculpture Garden)
ARTISTS:
Chia Amisola
Yoshi Sodeoka
Once again challenging MoMA's physical space and its limitations, internet artists Chia Amisola (b. in Manila, Philippines) and Yoshi Sodeoka (b. in Yokohama, Japan) are transforming the museum and its artworks by covering them with billboard posters and bright orange spiders. The exhibition title, ROOT ACCESS, refers to the highest level of administrative clearance within a computer system and gestures towards the artists' mischievous impulse, effectively hacking the visitors' art experience at MoMA.
Using the MoMAR v5 app, visitors can switch between two artworks: CONGRATULATIONS! PAMPLONA PARK SUBDIVISION by Amisola and The Flood - Multiplied by Sodeoka. On-screen, the real space of the museum vanishes behind either sales posters, advertisements, and lease announcements collected from Google Street View of Las Piñas, Philippines, or under gloomy, animated spiders of various sizes against a black background.
Amisola’s installation features the peaceful sound of birds chirping, evoking a stroll through the sunny town of Las Piñas, as posters from trucks, storefronts, and billboards pile up on the screen. After a few seconds, the viewers find themselves ensconced in a large advertising campaign guaranteeing the best deals. By overlaying MoMA's space with a visual reality from the other side of the globe, Amisola confronts us with the everyday visual impressions that shape life elsewhere. Critically reflecting on and challenging the idea of a curated space, Amisola hints at how powerful the narratives constructed by a collection can be in shaping our perception of a canon, and how commerce is intrinsically linked to the idea of culture serving the public.
Sodeoka creates a comparably invasive experience with his animation of spiders wriggling up the walls and ceilings of MoMA. Accompanied by a sound like shuffling playing cards, the orange spiders spread epidemically on a silky black background, subtly allowing the real space to shine through. The spider, a confounding yet astute symbol, represents both cunning and technical skill. Spider webs, the spider's essential tool for survival, symbolize not only the spider's home but also a trap for its prey. Created by Sodeoka but possessing a feral agency, the spiders cling to the artworks, highlighting their vulnerability in a ruthless but artificial nature, where only the strong, seemingly invincible walls of a museum can guarantee their survival and visibility.
Amisola and Sodeoka transform not only the walls and ceilings of MoMA but also the artworks and visitors into a vast projection screen. Having root access gives one the ability to execute any command, often equated with "superuser" privileges, allowing the user to bypass all security restrictions and effectively become the system's administrator. Both artists control the projected space by entirely covering it with animations as they navigate the exhibition rooms. Like tarpaulins, the animations overshadow any curatorial concept the museum intended, denying their interaction with the spectator. Artworks in museums are animated by human perception and seem pointless without it. Amisola and Sodeoka challenge our emotional interaction with art by forcing us to witness its disappearance and replacement. The tension between volatility and stability is a prominent theme in both artworks, as the transformation of the space creates a paradox. While the altered space denies interaction and silences dialogue with the artworks, it is only brought to life through human engagement and opens up a new interactive dimension beyond the physical realm.
Text written by Meral Karacaoglan