art as criticism

Artists explain and preserve the human experience through myth, translating internal visions into external interpretations, in order to make sense of physical and psychological worlds. Through a collective agency supported by pervasive connectivity, the creation, purpose, and evolution of myth transfers back into the hands of the global village, reclaimed from centuries of appropriation. Eventually, a sentience emerged, and myths took on a new form—-rather than being explicative, they have become alternative. Advances in technology have rendered natural phenomena mere novelty, seemingly explaining all but the existential meaning and complexity of the human mind. Jung suggests that the collective unconscious is a conditioned state, that archetypes are finite and the same mythologies will reiterate ceaselessly. However, storytellers are no longer interested in interpretation, and instead aim to materialize and explore meta-realities. The communal space of the Internet has developed into a proverbial campfire where we sit, glassy-eyed, transfixed by the glow, waiting for revelations.

What's the state of the modern myth? How do myths proliferate, what do we use to represent them, and what's the cultural value of storytelling? #FUTUREMYTH presents digital artists engaged in contemporary myth-making who are using the gallery as a way to navigate, define, and discuss the current landscape of mythology and its relevance in our technologically dependent lives.

text appropriated from 319 Scholes press release.