Curated by Eli Joteva, Khang Nguyen, and Kio Griffith

www.phenomenologyofhope.com

SUPERCOLLIDER presents Phenomenology of Hope, a virtual reality exhibition that simulates a post-COVID-19 gallery experience. The VR 3D gallery offers an immersive social experience where visitors can interact with each other and the artwork through their own avatars in real- time. Alluding to the current environment of accelerating changes and global development sparked by the pandemic, protests, systemic reevaluation and the ongoing climate anxiety, the 42 artists in this exhibition respond to the crises with their own interpretations of the phenomenon of hope. Arising from the ideas of desire, transformation, and optimism, recurring themes include justice, equality, identity, sovereignty, displacement, and sustainability. The works by international artists include painting, installation art, sculpture, photography, video, 3D scans/models, digital processing, and performance.

Hope is an evasive phenomenon. For some it is a most harmful impairment, for others, it is one of the highest human virtues. It is difficult to precisely define but seems to leave its imprints on every aspect of human life and practice. Some embrace the expression of hope as an innate human virtue that refuses to condone the suffering in this world, while others perceive it as an escapists’ inability to confront the realities of the world.

This exhibition examines the subject of hope by addressing some open-ended questions:
What is the conscious experience of the phenomenon called hope? How is hope to be distinguished from belief and faith, promise and expectation, confidence and certainty, idealism and optimism? Does the absence of hope give rise to its opposite, the presence of anxiety, fear or despair? Is there a state of mind that is not confined to the polarity of hope and despair, hence surpasses them? How does the human experience of hope relate to other-than-human intelligence systems? What is hope’s relation to the present and future, activity and passivity, individuality and community? Does it impede one from undertaking the duties and challenges of the life-at-hand by its orientation towards a life-to-come? Is it a form of escapism to be eschewed or a power of transformation to be espoused?
These and related questions are explored by the artists in this exhibition.

To experience the VR 3D gallery, please visit www.phenomenologyofhope.com and click on ‘VR 3D Gallery.’ If you would like to see additional work, we invite you to also visit the ‘2D Gallery’.

Participating Artists:
Adrienne DeVine, Akira Shikiya, Ann Phong, Asano Tsutsumi, Blue McRight, Carlos Gonzalez, Christopher Kojzar, Colin Roberts, Diane Williams, Eli Joteva, Emma Akmakdjian, Georganne Deen, Hung V. Nguyen, Isabel Beavers, Isabelle Higgins, Jackie Turpin, Janna Avner, Jonah Jackson, Jonathan Moore, June Edmonds, Kaitlin Bryson, Kate Parsons, KCJ Szwedzinski, Khang Nguyen, Kio Griffith, Kristin McWharter, Linnea Spransy, Maru Garcia, Megan Koth, Namiko, Naohiko Onodera, Neil Mendoza, Nihura, Richelle Gribble, Robert Gutierrez, Sean Noyce, Stalgia Grigg, Thomas Stoeckinger, Virginia Katz, Yogan Muller, Yukiko Sugiyama, and Zeynep Abes.

About the Curators
ELI JOTEVA is a Bulgarian media artist and researcher based in Los Angeles. With a practice rooted in photography and digital media, her work traces the translations between material and virtual planes in an effort to re-imagine the experiences of both human and other-than- human bodies. Influenced by contemporary research in the fields of quantum mechanics, neurophysics, and machine vision, she is currently investigating organic and computational memory systems in relationship to imaging technologies of the past and future. She holds an MFA from UCLA Design | Media Arts, a BA in Fine Arts from USC Roski, and most recently completed The New Normal post-graduate research program at Strelka. She has exhibited internationally, been a resident artist at Vermont Studio Center (2019), ACRE (2018), Photo+Sphere (2018) , and an active member of UCLA Art Sci Center | Lab since 2016. She is currently an artist in residence at Fraunhofer MEVIS, a curator for SUPERCOLLIDER Gallery in Los Angeles, a freelance procedural animation artist and a director of virtual galleries for multiple online exhibitions and projects including Current.cam http://www.joteva.com/

KHANG NGUYEN is a visual artist, independent curator and Ph.D. student in Eastern and Western philosophies at Claremont Graduate University. To be more specific, Nguyen studies the nondual tradition in the East as well as the dialectical tradition and postmodern philosophy in the West. He bridges these distinct traditions by showing their commonality, while at the same time respecting their irreducible differences. The philosophical and spiritual insights attained from his investigations are integrated into his visual art.
https://www.intuitiveformation.com/

KIO GRIFFITH is an interdisciplinary artist, independent curator, and arts writer working across themes of social issues, geopolitics, and migrating cultures, through multimedia, contemporary craft, and technology-based works, including graphic design, objects, sound and video, performance, coding, spatial design, and publishing. He has exhibited internationally in the U.K., Japan, Germany, Croatia, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Turkey, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and the U.S. Most notably are the 2016 Aichi Triennale in Nagoya, Japan, the 2017 Emerging Curator Awards at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions), and exhibiting artist at Tokyo Arts And Space, Open Site 2018. His current projects include co- founder at OOTE 41221 project space, co-founder of Transit Republic, an art and socio- anthropological publication, Genzō, an intercultural photographic journal, and contributing editor for Fabrik, Artscape, and Art Bridge Institute. Griffith’s work is in private and museum collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
http://kiogriffith.com/

VR Gallery Team

VR Gallery Director: Eli Joteva Installation Assistant: Cate Brooks Architecture Design: Julia Farley Graphic Design: Kio Griffith, Marianna Lambros 3D Texturing: Emily Mah, Samantha Seitz, Marianna Lambros
-- SUPERCOLLIDER creates immersive science+art experiences—including (inter)nationally curated satellites for pop-ups, festivals, and research institutes—that vividly reclaim our future and explode our present.
Located at the Beacon Arts Building in Los Angeles, CA, SUPERCOLLIDER is the Mothership (HQ) for sci+art+tech exhibitions in greater Los Angeles and beyond. We feature bi-monthly exhibitions and extend our curations via Satellites to local and (inter)national spaces.