Machine Gaze
February 14, 2020 - February 26, 2020
Schafer Gallery, Fort Mason Pier 2
2 Marina Boulevard, San Francisco, CA 94123
Machine Gaze is the second part of an annual exhibition Photography Without Camera. The exhibition expands the idea of "photography without camera" by seeing the camera as a machine and breaking down its mechanical elements. The exhibition focuses on emphasizing the absence of photographic material and pushing audience members to create their own mental imagery. Artists make work in response to questions such as "how does a physical body work like a machine?" This exhibition explores the relationship between physical human bodies and the mechanical, digitalized world. In the exhibition, the artists work with their curator closely. In response to the theme, artists use sound, light, shadow, performance, and video to question and to trouble the contemporary concept of photography. The artists' work encourages bodily interaction. By allowing viewers to experience the rhythm of machinery and body operation at the same time, the exhibition questions the division between human and machine.
Artists On View
Leo Barrera
Blanca Bercial
Sang Chi Liu
Zhang Mengjiao
Yeting Xiong
Image: Installation view from "Photography Without Camera: Machine Gaze" and Blanca Bercial, "Ouroboros," 2020. Schafer Gallery, San Francisco, 2020. Image © Sang Chi Liu