The Shed Will Present New Exhibition 'Manual Override'

The Shed explores the impact of technology on our lives in Manual Override, a group exhibition that will include six works, four of which are newly commissioned. On view in The Shed's Griffin Theater from November 13, 2019 through January 12, 2020, the exhibition features work by Morehshin Allahyari, Simon Fujiwara, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Sondra Perry, and Martine Syms. Manual Override is organized by critic Nora N. Khan, The Shed's first guest curator, with Alessandra Gomez, curatorial assistant.

Manual Override features artists who critique the social, cultural, and ethical issues embedded in emerging technological systems and infrastructures ranging from mass surveillance to predictive policing. Central to the exhibition is the idea of a manual override, or human interference in an automated system, a gesture in response to an error in programming, or poor judgment in design. "How do you pause a system you can't see, touch, or access? As these systems become increasingly oppressive and beyond our understanding, and management, what options do we have?" asks Nora Khan. In response, each artist posits new forms of "overriding" to subvert the values of invasive technological systems. They do so through building networks of artistic collaboration across scientific and technological fields, including genetic engineering, simulation design, machine learning, and experimental computation.

For decades, pioneering artist and filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson has been working with scientists, geneticists, and engineers to explore the impact of technological progress on our understanding of the self. Hershman Leeson premieres the final episode in her seminal video series, The Electronic Diaries (1984-2019), and the new Shed commission, Shadow Stalker (2019). A new generation of artists-Morehshin Allahyari, Sondra Perry, Simon Fujiwara, and Martine Syms-have developed research practices that echo Hershman Leeson's hybrid collaborative model, which serves as the conceptual foundation for Manual Override.

"Manual Override challenges us to think in new ways about the ever-growing role and effect of technology in our lives," said Alex Poots, Artistic Director and CEO of The Shed. "Inspired by the groundbreaking work of Lynn Hershman Leeson, whose vision continues to influence generations of artists, our guest curator Nora Khan's exhibition explores the intersection between art, science, technology, psychology, and sociology in contemporary life. An important part of Manual Override is the range of new commissions that enable featured artists to realize their ambitious vision."

For more information visit: https://theshed.org/