Open Call for Participants: SOMEONE by Lauren McCarthy

Seeking participants who would like to experience SOMEONE, a human smart home, in their own homes. SOMEONE is an expansion on the work LAUREN by artist Lauren McCarthy. It imagines a human version of Amazon Alexa, in which individual homes are watched over and remotely controlled through a custom system of cameras, switches, lights, and appliances. The human smart homes will be monitored and run via a command center installed in 205 Hudson Gallery as part of REFRESH: Refiguring the Future.   The artist will work with participants to customize a version of SOMEONE that will be installed throughout their own home. The system will run for 2 hours a day, 5 days a week from February 7 - March 31, 2019. During this time, visitors to 205 Hudson Gallery will be able to observe the home, interact with participants, and control aspects remotely in order to fulfill requests from participants, and even anticipate their desires.   The interaction between artist and participant will be collaborative. Participants will have a hand in designing their own custom smart home system, and working with the artist to identify boundaries and guidelines. We imagine this to be a co-creative experiment that evolves over the run of the show. Participants will be listed as collaborators in project credits, and offered an honorarium of $500.   Applications are welcomed from those living alone, roommates, couples, families, and alternative living arrangements. The only requirements are an enthusiasm and curiosity to participate. Applicants must reside in the Greater New York area.   Apply via this form by January 4.   REFRESH breaks down systemic cultural and economic oppression and offers validation, visibility, and new approaches to sustainable artistic practice. Refiguring the Future, our inaugural exhibition, will demonstrate a politically engaged and inclusive vision of what art, science and technology means, bringing special attention to populations that have been historically marginalized including women, trans and cisgender, people of color, LGBTQ+ and disabled artists from around the globe. REFRESH, in collaboration with Eyebeam will include community-based and site-specific projects, a gallery exhibition, and a host of public programming, bringing together a constellation of venues and organizations across New York City in Refiguring The Future which opens in early 2019.   Lauren McCarthy is a Los Angeles-based artist whose work examines issues of surveillance, automation, and network culture as they affect our social relationships. She is the creator of p5.js, an open source programming language for learning creative expression through code online. Lauren's work has been exhibited at Ars Electronica, SIGGRAPH, Science Gallery Dublin, Seoul Mediacity Biennial at the Seoul Museum of Art, and the Japan Media Arts Festival, and she is a ZERO1 Arts Incubator Resident, previously a Sundance Institute Fellow, and Eyebeam Resident.   Eyebeam is a platform for artists to engage society’s relationship with technology. Eyebeam provides both space and support for a community of diverse, justice-driven artists. Their annual residency program, highly engaged community of alumni, advanced tools and resources, and shows and events help artists bring their work to life and out into the world. Eyebeam enables people to think creatively and critically about technology’s effect on society, with the mission of revealing new paths toward a more just future for all.   The Hunter Art College Galleries, under the auspices of the Department of Art and Art History, have been a vital aspect of the New York cultural landscape since their inception over a quarter of a century ago. The galleries provide a space for critical engagement with art and pedagogy, bringing together historical scholarship, contemporary artistic practice, and experimental methodology. The galleries are committed to producing exhibitions, events, and scholarship in dialogue with the intellectual discourse generated by the faculty and students at Hunter and serve as an integral extension of the department’s academic programs.