The 2021 edition of DIVERSEartLA, curated by Marisa Caichiolo, will focus on the presence, contributions, research and documentation of women and non- binary artists at the forefront of work at the intersection of art, science and technology represented by guest Museums, Institutions and Not-for-Profit Organizations. 

“Science, art and technology are human attempts to understand and describe the world around us. The subjects and methods have different traditions and the intended audiences are different, but I think the motivations and goals are fundamentally the same. I think one of the most primal and innate needs of humans is to understand the world around us, and then share that understanding,” said Caichiolo.

In the field of digital art in the last fifteen years, many artists have been working on materializing the digital information and new media practices by audio or visual means (such as installation works, audio-visual and performances which include technology) in order to grasp the imagination of it; while other artists are aiming to present the concept of ‘signals’ from the perspective of synesthesia: they try to visualize sound signals with the aid of machinery and therefore transform the abstract geometric images into sounds through computer operations.

This wave began in the 1920s, when many artists aimed to create time-based visual works. Although some of the works seemed to embody the technology and innovation, much of it actually originated from the most tangible form of reality, the artist’s surrounding natural environments.

DIVERSEartLA will be an examination and a compilation of material, as well as an exhibition featuring the work of women and non-binary artists who have played a central role in the development of new media practices within art institutions and throughout history. We are also diving into a new period where we’ve had to deal with the breakdown of traditional relationships between the material and the immaterial.

While the cryptographic tokens used to create NFTs, are similar to cryptocurrencies such as BitCoin, the tokens in NFTs aren’t fungible, or interchangeable. So, it’s impossible to exchange one NFT for another, as one could do with currency. It’s often equated to an autograph, but on a digital file. An NFT not only tracks the creator of the artwork, but also the ownership and market value. Because it is securely stored in the blockchain, an NFT is unique and non-interchangeable. Photographs, videos, gifs, audio, and any digital file can be represented as an NFT.

Also check out our DIVERSEartLA Talks series, an online platform where the Museums and Institutions have a space to dialog, and share with the general public their programs in 2021.