“Human beings disappear; their histories remain.’ – Bernard Stiegler

The philosopher Bernard Stiegler, in his extensive meditation on the technological object, calls attention to its fundamental state of being as exemplary of a lack. In this, the objects we surround ourselves with can be seen as memory supports. They are the afterthought of a quality that is absent.

In our contemporary moment, we mediate through the world at a pace of instantaneous information acquisition. News from across the world is immediate for our contemplation, our physical being is slowly sublimating into the form of avatars with bullet-point bits of personal character traits thereby creating a form of brand identity. Off the cuff comments by those in power can virtually send international markets into tailspins as we augment our experience aimlessly wandering the landscape trying to capture video game characters that defy reality. All the while, the passing of events are recorded for posterity while the phenomenon withers away. It can seem like the most base olfactory experiences are left behind in favor of representations.

Each of the artists in ‘Traces’ touches upon a notion of tactility through engagement with objects of technology.

Gavin Bell, Jarrah de Kuijer and Simon McGlinn (Greatest Hits)

Melbourne based artists Gavin Bell, Jarrah de Kuijer and Simon McGlinn (Greatest Hits) have been in collaboration since 2008. Recent exhibitions include; Nationally; Octopus 16: Antiques Roadshow, Gertrude Contemporary, Technologism, Monash University Museum of Art, Lurid Beauty: Australian Surrealism and it’s Echoes, National Gallery of Victoria; Reinventing the Wheel; The Readymade Century, Monash University of Modern Art; Idle Resources, Tristan Koenig. And internationally; Arstronomy, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain; Creative Suite, Te Tuhi Center, Auckland and Wellington City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand; The Office, ACL partners, Paris, France; Man & Play, Brennan & Griffin, New York, USA; Put up a signal, MES 56, Yogyakarta, Indonesia; Video Arte Australia y Nueva Zelanda, Matucana 100, Santiago, Chile; Fury Road, Appendix, Portland, USA and Ménage a Trios, XYZ Collective, Tokyo, Japan.

Their works are represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, the Monash University Museum of Art, and various private collections.

Brian Khek

Brian Khek (b.1989 Chicago, IL) lives and works in Los Angeles. He received a BFA with an Emphasis on Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work responds to time, regionalism, and technology. Khek has shown at Gallery Steinsland Berliner (Stockholm, SE), Shoot the Lobster (New York City, NY), Honor Fraser (Los Angeles, CA) and Martos Gallery, (Los Angeles, CA). Some presentations and panels include 89+ at DLD13 (Munich, DE) organized by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Simon Castets. Khek is also a member of the collective Miami-Dutch.

Zachary Dean Norman

Zachary Norman received his BA from Kalamazoo College and an MFA in Photography from Indiana University. Norman is the co-founder of the art collective EIC, whose work has been featured in several solo and group shows and published extensively. In 2016, their publication DELIBERATE OPERATIONS 3 was shortlisted for the Anamorphosis Prize and included in the Museum of Modern Art Library. He is the co-recipient of a New Frontiers Grant for his research on computational photography. In 2016 Norman co-founded Jajaja Space, a studio, gallery and research space in South Bend, IN. His work has been exhibited at Present Company (NYC), Chicago Expo (Chicago, IL), Aperture Foundation (NYC), Kilroy Metal Ceiling (NYC), Filter (Chicago, IL), Royal Nonesuch Gallery (Oakland, CA), Webber Gallery Space (London, UK) and Steinsland Berliner Gallery (Stockholm, Sweden). Norman is currently the Visiting Lecturer and Research Associate in Photography at the University of Notre Dame.

Marina Miliou-Theocharaki

Marina Miliou Theocharaki is an interdisciplinary artist and writer who drifts between Athens, Greece and Chicago, IL. In her work, she delicately orients herself around definitions of the body and its archaeology within prescribed spaces. She focuses on the moment when nonbelonging acquires sociopolitical dimensions, deconstructs it and then filters it through poetry and abstraction. Her work has been exhibited in venues including The Megaron Athens Concert Hall, Greece; Vienna Ballhaus, Austria; Figure One Gallery, Champaign, IL; Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL; the Comfort Station Logan Square, Chicago, IL; the Den Theater, Chicago, IL; Dfbrl8tr Performance Art Gallery, Chicago, IL; as well as the Cook County Jail, Chicago, IL. In 2015 she was awarded the BFA/Post-Baccalaureate Fellowship from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as well as the 2014 George Roeder Undergraduate Award in Visual & Critical Studies.

Miliou Theocharaki is co-founder of the quarterly online curatorial platform Tamaas / تماس / επαφή and was a 2016 Hatch Resident at Chicago Artists Coalition. She currently holds a position as a curatorial assistant and ASFA liaison for documenta 14, which in 2017 will take place in both Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany.

Jack Schneider

Jack Schneider (b. 1991) is an artist living and working in Chicago, IL. His recent solo shows include Call of Cthulhu at Born Nude and INTO at Amur Initiatives Media & Research. His work has also been included in group exhibitions at Beautiful Gallery, Lodos, the European Graduate School and the Institute of Contemporary Art Singapore. He received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago along with the James Ray Nelson Fellowship Award. His work investigates the effects of anthropogenic thought, systems and processes on other species and the environment.