Press Int Continuous

Project Description

PressInt Continuous explores the absurdity and uncertainty of the news we consume everyday through social media platforms. Due to social disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic, our dependency on digital devices has extended to a broader spectrum. The rapid nature of the internet brought most users into the habit of consuming information instantly, but they forget it just as quickly. Instagram users scroll through a neverending feed seeking to be fed more, but their diminished attention spans leave them less able to absorb longer pieces of information.

I have personally been keeping myself more up to date with recent news through Instagram, since the lockdown began. Although I am aware that Instagram is not the best platform for keeping up with the news, the simultaneous and easy access to multiple news outlets gave me a good enough excuse for this laziness.

In between stressful news about important global events such as war or the pandemic, there were also very shallow and sometimes absurd news stories. I found this trivialization of the news disappointing but also humorous in a way.

ARTIST BIO

ROYA EBTEHAJ is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ebtehaj incorporates digital media to undermine socio-political narratives shaped by cultural degradation, authoritarianism, and technological exploitation in today's polarized world. 

Ebtehaj’s practice stems from looking for new methodologies; taking a multidisciplinary approach, and merging creative production with modern technology. Her artistic endeavor is framed by the juxtaposition of her Iranian background along with her identity interlaced in the diaspora. She attempts to portray historical resilience in the contemporary era to open up a transcultural dialogue through her art. 

Ebtehaj has exhibited her work internationally in different venues including Kyoto Shibori Museum, Root Division, B4b4lab, Richmond Art Center, Maker Faire, Tehran Platform No.3, and Berkeley Art Center. She is currently a Postdoctoral fellow at Santa Clara University in the Department of Art and Art History; teaching digital media courses.

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Part of the Digital Exhibition “The Option To…”

Berkeley Art Center presents a series of newly commissioned projects by artists working in video, animation, writing, textiles, photography, and interactive media. As we continue to navigate a world of limited interaction, we commissioned six artists to make pieces that we could present online in some way. There was no thematic requirement, no overarching curatorial framework — just an opportunity to respond to our new shared reality with an idea that they saw as relevant to the continuation or expansion of their practice. For us, the value of these works is in the process of their making as much as in the thing that is made.

Their timing coincides with a yearlong initiative by the Feminist Art Coalition to draw attention to projects informed by various feminisms. New projects will be released every few weeks from October 2020 through February 2021.