Commons Conversations Revisited: Ceci Moss
In light of recent developments with COVID-19, BCNM pivoted our latest Commons Conversation lecture to an online Zoom webinar. Described by BCNM faculty Greg Niemeyer as a “connector of many things,” Ceci Moss is a curator, writer, educator and truck driver. She discussed “Expanded Internet Art” at length, centering the conversation on her newly published book, “Expanded Internet Art: Twenty-First-Century Artistic Practice and the Informational Milieu,” and her recent curatorial activities.
Her book first emerged out of organic discussions with fellow artists about post-internet art, responding to social media’s increasing use as an artistic platform. Moss defined “expanded internet art” as a multiplicity of continuous elements existing within a distributed system — artwork without an object or center. It is a product of informational milieu, which is an informational culture composed of dynamic and shifting relations between massless flows.
Social media offered a new space for artists and Moss recounted different ways people play with these platforms. Moss looked at Artie Vierkant’s Image Objects and Similar Objects as an example. These projects dismissed the notion of “original” and “copy,” using both physical sculptures and altered image documents as they’re distributed online. By creating derivative works of each piece, there was a cyclical movement around the gallery with every alteration and iteration.
For the remainder of the talk, Moss discussed Gas, a mobile and autonomous truck gallery designed to tackle Los Angeles’ sprawling geography by tapping into different art communities and working between distinct spaces. Moss described parking in places like The Getty and how she has curated artworks in a multitude of mediums.
The program concluded with a lively discussion with the audience, and an announcement of California’s shelter-in-place order. While the news surprised all, Ceci’s work in showcasing internet art became all the more relevant and pressing in light of these times.
