Reid Arowood

SAIC SHOWS 2023 GRADUATE EXHIBITIONS

Graduates

SAIC SHOWS 2023 GRADUATE EXHIBITIONS

Master of Fine Arts in Studio, Art and Technology Studies

Reid Arowood fuses elements of performance, sculpture, and new media to create multi-sensory experiences that push the boundaries of the hybrid body and queer identity. Their work has been exhibited internationally through various festivals, symposiums, and exhibitions. Recent highlights include Ancestral Echoes: A Decade of Bio Art, Ars Electronica Festival “Worlds in Progress,” the 6th International Exhibition on New Media Art, Art in Odd Places: NORMAL, and Future Bodies: 2022 New Media Caucus Symposium and Exhibition. They received their BFA from the University of Tennessee and are completing their MFA in Art and Technology Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Body/Exchange, 2021, Installation

Body/Exchange is an immersive installation space that presents the artist’s attempts and experiments in uploading, transforming, and embodiment- physically and virtually.

CLONE CLINIC: Workshop, 2022, Interactive Performance

CLONE CLINIC is a workshop in which the artist guides participants through the process of uploading their bodies into virtual space.

FaceShop, 2022, Installation

FaceShop is a collection of AI-generated interpretations of the artist’s face when multiplied with the face of their virtual avatar. This collection is presented alongside life-size heads that can be used to “try-on” these faces in physical space using projection mapping technology.

myReid, 2022, Video Game

myReid is a video game that requires the user care for an artificially-intelligent simulation of the artist. In order to keep myReid alive, the user must feed, issue vital medications, and provide ample love and affection.

Dr.Beauty’s Clinic, 2019, Performative Installation

Dr.Beauty’s Clinic is a pop-up plastic surgery clinic where Dr.Beauty invites viewers to receive Augmented Reality transformations.

neXXXa, 2022, Processing Sketch

Recently Deleted, 2021, Video, 02:31 min.

myReid, 2022, Video Game

My interests as an artist are anchored in exploring the possibilities of the queer body when fused with technology and body modification. For example, what can a body mean if we have the power to physically change the body and modify the perception of it through filters and editing software? My desire to create comes from a place of obsession and a desire for control over my own body. Not only control of my own physical anatomy but the expectations and perceptions of my body and identity.

I also reflect on social media/pop culture’s influence on self-perception, beauty, and gender. How does pop culture distort our perception, presentation, and instrumentation of self?

Flesh-covered mirrors, prosthetics, beauty products, and examination tables are stitched together with augmented reality face filters, virtual reality performance, and heavily edited images to blur the boundaries between our physical and digital presence. These components create a multi-sensory experience where viewers become specimens and are encouraged to interact, smell, and even ingest elements of the work. This creates a visceral and disorienting experience for the viewer, prompting them to question the perception of their own body and blur their distinction between the digital and the physical.

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