2013 Platform Gallery Exhibition: Collective Intelligence

As contemporary culture shifts towards honoring forms of communication that stress immediacy and shorthand (text messaging, email), and moves away from a communal narrative experience, what ancient stories continue to sustain modern communities? What new origin narratives will be created by a culture shaped by digital technology? Why do some stories stand the test of time, while others are forgotten? These are the questions that Platform’s latest exhibit (Collective Intelligence) aims to explore. While our attempts to remain constantly connected via digital technology lead increasingly to a paradoxical sense of isolation, certain stories continue to be shared and retold. This exhibit will look to ancient stories for clues for forming future art communities. We are curious about how the origins of cultural touchstone narratives (stories denying singular authorship or copyright, such as those born of the attempt to explain the seemingly inexplicable or fables passed down to enforce a moral or lesson) mutate in the cultural memory with each retelling, encouraging reinterpretation.