THE BACKEND

Merlin Carpenter, Maia Chao and Josephine Devanbu, Johann Diedrick, Sophia Giovannitti, Liz Magic Laser, Ari Melenciano, William Powhida, Bat-Ami Rivlin, Rose Salane, Finnegan Shannon, TJ Shin, and Julia Weist probe the nature of protocols and agreements prompting questions about ownership, production, notions of truth, and agency.

The Backend features thirteen contemporary artists who delve into the protocols and agreements that shape our society and the framework of our participation. These often hidden structures, such as the code behind digital platforms or legal systems that dictate the use and access to information, significantly impact our daily lives and cannot be skirted without voiding participation. Artists approach these arrangements often already in place without mutual agreement, revealing societal givens we are born into regardless of our willingness and understanding. The artists aim to reveal these hidden structures and how they manifest, swhere encounters with refusals, confusion, bureaucracy, and denial function like dog whistles to investigate further.

The title of the exhibition refers to a system of code that is responsible for the logic of any given software hidden from the user. Without the backend, there would be no front-end to experience. The exhibition is placed in the space between the unseeable logic of systems and the presence of their power, exploring the dynamics at play within a social context. The artists reflect systems onto themselves, holding up a mirror to their encounters for others to bear witness. This approach takes different forms, such as adopting the language of contracts to show the system at work in real-time or relying on notions of refusal and obfuscation to withhold content from the viewer as ways to illuminate the architecture of the systems we move through.

The exhibition provides discreet and focused windows into how knowledge, culture, and people are circulated or restricted. Rather than propsed solution, The Backend functions as an exercise in cartography, mapping ecosystems of malpractice. Together, these artists prompt larger questions about ownership and rights to access, notions of truth, manifestations of power, and the way these overarching systems dictate the conditions of our lived experiences.