Social Video Art

This video installation brings together works by Pedro Lasch that are as varied as their settings. A pandemic dance party in Bogotá’s baroque Santa Clara convent gives way to an irreverent choreography in Bologna’s Anatomical Theater. Movements of abstract color merge with views of Venice and textual patterns with Embassy Row in the US Capital, both capturing voice recitals once presented there, four national anthems at once, all in the wrong language. A soon-to-be demolished ice rink in Charlottesville becomes the stage for fire sculptures and performances, leading to a participatory candle vigil on ice to honor the life of Heather Heyer.

All works have been meticulously co-edited with Michael Blair to become video art in its own terms—as opposed to simply documenting Lasch’s social and site-specific art. The exhibition also celebrates the fruitful collaborative process that started in 2015, when Blair began working on dozens of instructional videos for Lasch’s ART of the MOOC series, offered on Coursera and co-produced by Creative Time in New York and Duke University in Durham. Little did they know that over 60,000 people from 134 countries would enroll and view these videos, or that this process would lead to so many additional hours of working together on much more obscure video works never meant to be viewed on a computer or mobile device.

Gallery Hours

With Duke ID: 10am–8pm Mon–Fri

General Public: 5–8pm January 20 & 21

Public Reception: Thursday, January 20, 5–8pm