[Dis]position

Society slammed the brakes and we are all still reeling. As we struggle to reorient ourselves — in time, in space, and in relation to one another — the past becomes difficult to distinguish from the future. In this haze, one thing is clear: the present is our moment, and our chance to build the world we want to inhabit.

[Dis]position is a virtual exhibition space that exploits its immaterial status to bring together digital and physical artworks and environments. Folding the map in on itself to fuse distant geographies, [Dis]position underscores the impossibility of a virtual utopia and the urgency of reimagining our collective reality. Using the prefix dis- as an organizing principle, the artworks in the exhibition act as a reversing force, embracing the conditions of physical dislocation to foreground the inherent potential of shared aesthetic experience.

The first of its type in the United States, SAIC’S Art & Technology Studies department was established in 1969 with the introduction of a single course operating at the intersection of art, science, and technology. Since its inception, the program has continually pioneered the use of emerging technologies in contemporary art, developed new models of artistic practice and integrated these models into the curriculum of one of the world’s most influential art and design schools.