Each year the Renaissance Society hosts a fundraising event that plays an essential role in supporting the coming year of exhibitions, programs, and publications.
On December 4 at 7PM CST, the benefit format of RenBen: Wildcard returns in the form of an artist-centered 24-hour broadcast and a virtual launch party for Renaissance TV, a new online space for the Ren to continue showcasing artists and their projects.
Renaissance TV is an experiment, an additional exhibition space, and a tentative exploration of the potential for the internet to be a generative platform divorced from vertical hierarchies and classical institutional agendas. Conceptualized by Myriam Ben Salah with Karsten Lund and Michael Harrison, and inspired by the lo-fi aesthetic and assorted programming of television broadcasting, Renaissance TV hosts artist projects—newly produced and existing—such as films, animations, performances, sound pieces, mixtapes, and more. Powered by Gucci and designed by Special—Offer Inc. (LA & NYC), the Renaissance TV website brings to life a new digital environment to transform our experiences with artworks online.
On December 4th and 5th, the platform launches with a 24-hour program titled IMAGE.SOUND.TEXT. after the three components that Carolyn Lazard combines and calls out in their video A Recipe for Disaster. Running as a thread throughout the program, the selected artworks question the idea of image, sound, and text as transparent—or accurate—mediums, considering their material conditions and the status of what’s on screen. Renaissance TV hijacks television’s visual template of instant visibility and passive flow of images, using the screen as an active vehicle for imagination and reflexive viewership.
Participating artists include:
Lawrence Abu Hamdan • Reza Abdoh • Farah Al Qasimi • Morgan Bassichis • Neil Beloufa • Meriem Bennani • Talia Chetrit • David Claerbout • Phil Collins • Tony Cokes • Crystallmess • Aria Dean • Mati Diop • Cecile B. Evans • Kahlil Joseph • Oliver Laric • Carolyn Lazard • Kelsey Lu • Tala Madani • Shahryar Nashat • OKAY KAYA • Precious Okoyomon • Diane Severin Nguyen • Liv Shulman • A.L. Steiner • Martine Syms • Nora Turato • Mona Varichon
