a/drift, an exhibition-as-allegory, employs the idea of drifting to suggest the increasingly porous quality of today's cultural life. a/drift offers eight fluid zones: Elasticity (pulled, stretched out, nearly torn, and returned to shape); Carnal Matters (the body is everywhere displayed, and displaced); Almost Dumb, Distracted and Apathetic Enough (your behavior is a strategy of resistance); A lovely Entropy (when things fall apart, and we embrace the erosion); lifestyles of the ... (live like us, be like us, we are you); TV Heads (television is inside us, and we are inside television); Where is the Identity? (moments of naming and identification); and From Reticence to Smart Anger, Nihilism to Hope and Back Again (social psychologies and styles in transition, or contradiction). While the show focuses upon newly commissioned and extant works of visual art, each zone also brings into play materials from distinct areas of culture, such as film, television, fashion, and music. So, drift on through.
Joshua Deeter is a New York-based critic and curator. His recent exhibitions have included Don't look Now at the Thread Waxing Space, NY (1994), and Screen at the Friedrich Petzel Gallery, NY (1996). He is a regular contributor to Artforum, and teaches at the School of Visual Arts, New York University, and Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.