PULSE Play | New York 2015
Christina Benz
Pool, 2005
6 min, 19 sec
Courtesy of CYNTHIA CORBETT GALLERY
London, UK

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PULSE PLAY is a dedicated showcase for video and new media curated by Billy Zhao of the Marina Abramovic Institute.

Curatorial Statement
This selection of artists and works approaches collective progress through speculative criticism, testing desired and undesired consequences. Bridging together raw aesthetics and theatricality, the works reveal interpretations of the future through a reflection of their contemporary setting. They present systems for advancement, employing harsh truths and optimistic motives, attempting to realize the impossible.

Christina Benz�s Pool (2005) sets unfulfilled expectations through wit and absurdity, as bare female figures sit on diving blocks, gazing into a frozen pool that sits upon a fluid lake. Shifting perspective in an invented situation, William Powhida�s Exit Interview (2011) presents a self-critique as a cynical allegory of high culture, challenging establishment. Lilly McElroy�s video is the closest reference to internet works, translated to reality. It is humorous with the same sense as a vine or gif. It was literally a breakout from the digital tripping into back reality. Tom Pnini�s work I see as creating a fantasy. An important aspect was shifting perspective, perhaps even the most active video. The setting also a little reference to Futurists admiration for industrial development.

The Future is a provocative unknown. It is what people anticipate, yet are most terrified of.