CARL SKELTON
GIST : Next Generation Americana
Thanksgiving, 2003 - January 6, 2004
Artist Statement
‘Next Generation Americana’ is an infinite work. A projection piece, featuring simple imperative sentences, set in white script on any surface, of any size, under any lighting conditions. Technically, it’s a Shockwave movie, to be played through a digital projector; every twenty seconds or so, a new sentence (composed of verb, adjective, and noun) fades in, and then fades out again; after a pause, a new sentence appears in its place.
The sentences are formed through independent random selection from lists of words by the software. The lists have been compiled from ‘Beyond Productivity: Information, Technology, Innovation, and Creativity,’ a publication by the Committee on Information Technology and Creativity, National Research Council 2003.
The lists have been edited for word length and grammatical compatibility, but are otherwise a complete lexicon of the book - the character of the sentences reveals aspects of the original text I never expected. It is possible for the piece to repeat itself. However, the word arrays are long, and their possible permutations are so numerous that you probably won’t live long enough to see the same sentence twice, even if you decide to try to watch the whole project. By the same token, it seems at any moment to comment on its surroundings or its viewers in Memphis.
Solo Exhibitions and Project
2004 Gist:Next Generation Americana, Power House, Memphis TN
2003 Poltergeist 7 Hours, Berlin, White Box, New York
2002 Will Is Was, Video projection installation, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Canada
2000 Living Stones, A public installation, Toronto, Canada
1999 Begging Bear, Permanent installation, MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph, Canada
1997 Luminous Bummy Fruitoid, University of Toronto at Scarborough, Canada
Ultratopia, ongoing website project (electronic sketchbook, some documentation and writing) with Greg Van Alstyne, New York
b.1972
Lives and works in New York City