Goodbye, World!, 2021-Installation by Jason Livingston and Jason E Geistweidt, opening 2/12/21 at Burchfield Penny

An ironic play on the classic coding exercise, “hello, world!” Jason Livingston and Jason E Geistweidt use electronic circuitry and real-time data to show the difference between the current temperature and the 30-year average in the four cities the polar bears represent: Shenzen, Seattle, São Paulo, and Svalbard.  With eyes that glow redder with the rise in global temperatures, the installation turns what is often made invisible - the infrastructure behind our ever-increasing data consumption - into a visual signifier of the impact of this data use on our climate.  Goodbye, World! reminds us of our collective impact on the ecosystem, and that even our well-meaning attempts at connection can end up being yet another method of extraction without regeneration.   - Zainab Saleh, Curator

Making Strange focuses on the ruminations presently taking place; not only through the artworks exhibited, but also by its collaborative curatorial process. The curatorial team — comprised of Tiffany Gaines, Katharine Gaudy, Zainab Saleh, Dana Tyrrell, and Rebecca Wing — utilized a virtual studio visit process to engage in thoughtful discussions with the artists and how their practice has evolved amidst these larger forces. It is through these conversations that formal connections between the works and process of each artist were developed and the curatorial context for the exhibition came into focus. The collision of media and scale — small scale painting, large scale drawing, sculpture, and video — offers a glimpse as to how different mediums can be manipulated to make sense of a capricious time. 

More information here

https://www.burchfieldpenney.org/exhibitions/exhibition:02-12-2021-05-30-2021-making-strange/

http://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2021/04/goodbye-world.html