While many artworks are engaged better in person, there are others that can be experienced also from the comfort of our homes. Good news considering the closure of museums and galleries all over the world. Below there are a few suggestions for artworks to see from home and to enjoy in digital form.
Discovering Art from Home
Barbara Hammer, Dyketactics (1974)
Barbara Hammer was an experimental filmmaker who celebrated lesbian sexuality and history in her work in the 1970s. The great majority of her production features natural settings as well as people living in the community. Her art focuses on human intimacy from a feminine point of view.
Look at the online tribute to Barbara Hammer
Jon Rafman, Nine Eyes of Google Street View (2008–ongoing)
Jon Rafman uses new technology to collect peculiar images. By using Google Street View, a service that offers views on given locations, Rafman has been raising a collection of curious captures since 2008. Some of his images went viral, like the one portraying a man skeleton costume in a stroller. Nine Eyes of Google Street View is an ongoing project that is easily accessible on the web.
Look at Nine Eyes of Google Street View by Jon Rafman on the artist’s Tumblr
Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Walled/Unwalled (2018)
Lawrence Abu Hamdan is a contemporary artist based in Beirut. His work focuses on the political effects of listening. Above all, Hamdan uses different types of audio to explore its effects on human social dynamics. Hamdan’s practice arose from a deep interest in audio-visual installation and sociology. In particular, his production is halfway between the sound and the content. Through the work on display at the last Venice Biennale, the artist deals with the human voice as political materials.
Hamdan recorded the entire experience at the 2019 Venice Biennale on his YouTube channel.
Look at Walled/Unwalled by Lawrence Abu Hamdan on the artist’s YouTube channel
Alejandro Cesarco, Learning the Language (Present Continuous 1), 2018
Among the artworks to see from home, there is also Learning the Language by Alejandro Cesarco. Uruguayan-born artist, he soon developed a particular interest in literature and literary theory. His is a kind of art that quests the brittle relationship between image, language, and meaning.
In particular, in Learning the Language (Present Continuous 1), 2018 the artist introduces an Argentine pianist and scholar Margarita Fernández playing a movement from a Franz Schubert sonata.
For Cesarco, the project is a continuation of his research into narrative structures and translation. In particular, he focuses on twists and turns and possible transpositions from music to film and vice versa. Above all, in his work, language becomes a matter of motifs, resurgences, and combinations, structured like a musical ensemble.
Look at Learning the Language (Present Continuous 1), by Alejandro Cesarco on Galleria Raffaele Cortese’s online viewing room