Space to Space: The Center for Integrated Media Exhibition

Spring 2020

Space to Space is a collection of media works produced by the Center for Integrated Media MFA graduating class of 2020. The work is composed of personal reflections, critical and formal investigations and cultural affinities that reflect these precarious times both directly and indirectly. This online exhibit was assembled after the student’s semester was cut short due to the advent of the covid-19 virus and the subsequent cancelation of classes at CalArts.

The title of the exhibit, Space to Space is based on a quote from 1972 by Nam June Paik:

“Telephone is point to point communication system.
Radio-TV is a point to space communication system…like fish egg.
Ultimate goal of video revolution is the establishment of space to space,
or plain to plain communication without confusion and interference each other.”

The exhibit reflects Paik’s investigations into communication and space. What happens to the artist’s ability to communicate due to an undesired eviction from their common space––an unwanted revolution caused by a virus that instills interference and confusion. What ensues when the artist’s physical space is no longer deemed safe and it is forcibly replaced by the virtual? Paik’s utopic goal of space to space communication is put to the test by these questions and by these artists, who are working to survive critically and creatively.

In times of individual physical distancing, the power embodied in their collective work dissolves our immediate vulnerability and insecurity. The work’s online presence amplifies an awareness of space as we go through cultural and political transformations, shaping new speculative borders. Their personal vision fulfills our need for sensation and intimacy in the virtual spaces we’re now forced to inhabit, creating possibilities for alternative structures where future artistic endeavors and collaborations can reside and grow.

Tom Leeser
Director
The Center for Integrated Media
at CalArts