Artist Gretchen Andrew brings her headline-making search engine manipulations to Europe in the museum solo exhibition, Trust Boundary, at Francisco Carolinum Linz in Austria.
Trust boundary is a term used in computer science and security that describes a boundary where program data or execution changes its level of “trust.” The term refers to any distinct boundary within which a system trusts all sub-systems (including data). Simultaneously read as an imperative “Trust (the) boundary”
Gretchen’s latest exploration of search engine art includes two new search engine takeovers:
- “Contemporary Art Auction Record” explores the art auction system, Gretchen’s place in that system, and how women make up only 2% of the contemporary art market.
- “NYTimes Art” imagines Gretchen’s work on the cover of The New York Times Art section, manifesting her personal and professional aspiration to have her work featured in a major newspaper.
- “Map of the EU” imagines Europe as a utopian project, not unlike the internet, with moving and fluid borders, especially when compared to the current rise of nationalism.
These new vision boards, now appearing as top search engine results online, move, push, and challenge political, lexical, technical, and social boundaries. The feminine and trivialized materials of Gretchen’s vision boards clash with the male-dominated worlds of artificial intelligence, programming, and political control in the digital age. Each vision board is the result of search engine programming that can be seen on visitors’ devices as a work of art that has become a reality in the museum through Google.
A large wing of the museum will also become a massive, interactive vision board, where visitors are encouraged to participate in its construction and internet takeover. The participatory installation includes glue, glitter, magazines, crafts, and non-ironic desire. Visitors to the museum are invited to adhere words and symbols of encouragement, desire, and motivation in an effort to transform the gallery’s white walls into a living vision board, collectively imagining and celebrating a hoped-for future.
Trust Boundary will exhibit October 16th, 2021 – February 27th, 2022. OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH Museumstraße 14 4010 Linz, Austria October 16th, 2021 – February 27th, 2022. Opening October 15th, 2021, at 19:00. @ooe.art
About the Artist
Gretchen Andrew (born in Los Angeles, 1988) is a search engine and internet imperialist artist. Her practice is described by critic Jonathan Griffin in LALA Magazine as alluding to “the Wild West possibilities of the Internet and to the scale of her artistic ambition.” She trained in London with the artist Billy Childish from 2012-2017. In 2018 the V&A Museum released her book Search Engine Art.
Starting in 2019 she became known for her vision boards and associated performative internet manipulations of art world institutions of Frieze Los Angeles, The Whitney Biennial, The Turner Prize, and The Cover of Artforum. Gretchen’s work has recently been featured in The Washington Post, Fortune Magazine, CNN, Fast Company, Monopol, Wirtschaftswoche, The Los Angeles Times, and The Financial Times.
Her solo exhibition, Future News, debuted at The Monterey Museum of Art in Monterey, California, August 20, 2020 – Jan 3, 2021.
Her solo exhibition, Other Forms of Travel, debuted at Annka Kultys Gallery in London, April 22, 2021 – June 6, 2021.
gretchenandrew.com @gretchenandrew
