CHF: The Subversive Artist

About

Siebren Versteeg in conversation with Naomi Beckwith

part of the Richard Gray Visual Art Series

Artist Siebren Versteeg, whom New York Magazine called “every Harry Potter–loving/Hackers-watching/anti-capitalist computer geek’s idol,” writes his own software code, avails himself of online media and commercial databases, and creates high-tech works that critique the very sources he uses. In a way, his art shows us that our digital reality is not so real. So far his approach has resulted in works such as Dynamic Ribbon Device, which renders the Associated Press’s Internet feed in the shape of the Coca-Cola logo. He discusses his work and the role of the artist in the digital age with Naomi Beckwith, curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.