8-Bit Cliques



If anyone in London for the Frieze fair is still tempted to write off the manipulated electronics of the Beige programming ensemble or the kinetic graphic work of the group Paper Rad as interesting but merely stylish nostalgia, the exhibition Tha Click, which opens at E:vent Gallery on October 6th and runs through November 4th, should prove that over the last 10 or so years, both ensembles have made a remarkably substantive and genre-shaping contribution to electronic media-inspired art. The exhibition charts the development of both groups with a mix of older work and more recent offerings. Representing the Beige collective, Paul B. Davis, Cory Arcangel, and Joe Beuckman contribute work ranging from the early hacked Nintendo cartridges that first brought them attention to recent projected work by Davis that manipulates video at the code level to produce an altered image. Jessica Ciocci, Jacob Ciocci, and Ben Jones of Paper Rad, meanwhile, contribute a new series of large-scale color prints, which demonstrate the latest incarnation of their kaleidascope aesthetic that has previously been manifested in everything from books, comics, and zines to video--all of which make an appearance in the exhibition. Taken as a whole, the show demonstrates how the playful, do-it-yourself impulse guiding both collectives' practices have gone from a novel approach to images cast-off by the forward progression of pop-culture to a defining current in contemporary media-based work. Both groups will also participate in a post-Frieze event celebrating the exhibition on October 11th, providing music and visuals for an evening titled 'Tha Click Rave On.'

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