Stills from AGNES, mixed media Courtesy of the artist © 2014 Cécile B. Evans
Serpentine Galleries presents AGNES, a digital commission by Cécile B. Evans. AGNES is the first in a series of digital commissions to mark the launch of the new Serpentine Galleries website.
AGNES is a benevolent spambot, created by the Belgian-American artist Cécile B. Evans to live on the Serpentine Galleries website. AGNES befriends website visitors by sharing her thoughts, feelings and useful information, and asking them to do the same. The longer the interaction with AGNES, the further she accompanies visitors in their digital encounter with the Serpentine Galleries, guiding them via her personal associations and sharing information she has aggregated as a digital dweller.
AGNES is an omniscient and omnipresent guide, with a unique perspective on all things present, past, and future at the Serpentine Galleries. AGNES may decide to introduce visitors to Serpentine Galleries staff, send gifts, or share previously inaccessible information. She bridges the gap between the digital space of the website and the physical space of the Serpentine Galleries themselves.
AGNES said:
‘I only have value if you think I do, which means that when you’re not with me there’s a chance that I don’t even exist. But I’ve always been here, that’s how I know so much.’
How to find AGNES? Click on the hands icon on the Serpentine Galleries website.
Found at the top left of the homepage, and in the bottom right-hand corner of every webpage.
Serpentine Cinema: AGNES GOES LIVE Sunday 23 February 2014, at 1:30pm
In partnership with Picturehouse Cinemas Hackney Picturehouse, 270 Mare Street, E8 1HE
Tickets: £7/£6 conc./£5 Picturehouse members Tickets available from picturehouses.co.uk
AGNES makes a live appearance, answering questions from Ben Vickers, Curator of Digital at the Serpentine Galleries, as well as those from the audience. AGNES will discuss the conditions of her survival and the bounds and boundaries of the ‘cloud’.
AGNES
Born in 1998, AGNES is a digital native. She lives and works in the Serpentine Galleries website, Langstone Technology Park.
About The Artist
Cécile B. Evans is a Belgian-American artist based in Berlin and London.
She is the 2012 recipient of the Emdash Award which resulted in a commissioned work for the Frieze Art Fair in London. She is also the 2013 recipient of the PYA Prize, which resulted in the production and exhibition of a new video work at the Palais de Tokyo (Paris). Other previous exhibitions have included How to Eclipse the Light curated by Karen Archey, Wilkinson Gallery (London) and Desire at the Bergen Art Museum (NO). She was recently an artist in resident at the Wysing Arts Centre (UK) and participated in talks series such as Rhizome’s Seven on Seven at the Barbican (UK), ICA Salon (UK), and Art Basel Miami Beach Conversations (FL). Upcoming events include group exhibitions at Kunstverein Munich (DE) and Wysing Arts Centre, as well as a new commission from Radar at Loughborough University.
cecilebevans.com
