Bring Your Own Beamer!

I am trying to prove a point here. Grateful Grapefruit and I were accused of being hipsterical and not arty and nerdy anymore. Excuse me?! Fil challenged me to post 5 consecutive entries that are NOT body-related and NOT coming from Berlin, NYC or Tokyo. I said OK and am on my way to prove him wrong.

First off is BYOB. It is not a project coming from a particular city, but an idea that reflects a new way of displaying and experiencing art.

BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer) is a series of one-night-exhibitions hosting artists and their projectors. Anyone can make a BYOB exhibition. Rules are pretty simple:
– find a space
– invite many artists
– ask them to bring their projectors

Featuring a generation of artists that grew up behind the screen, BYOB has an open and dynamic structure that not only allows for spontaneity and experimentation, but also places questions concerning the formalism and engagement of the exhibition directly in the hands in the artists. A moving image is never an object, and when it is coupled with the increased flexibility of portable projection, the realm of experience quickly expands. The individual works often overlap and sometimes even merge, producing a total environment that is more than the sum of its parts. Ultimately, this loose, free form format mirrors the chaos of the internet. Gallery visitors stroll in a forest of browser windows much in the same way one browses sites on the web.

Last BYOB event took place in Brownstone Gallery on last Friday, November 12th. Next BYOB is in LA on November 19th at USC MAF gallery. And this is what theBerlin  BYOB event was like: