While “Super Sad True Love Story” author Gary Shteyngart recently reported on his experience wearing Google Glass to MoMA PS1, and Diane von Furstenberg has used the device to capture her perspective on Fashion Week, art world Glass Explorer Samantha Katz is putting her own spin on the new technology: She has signed up to document the New York art world in a 30-day YouTube series called “Gallery Glass.” Katz, who handles sponsorship and press for Arts in Bushwick and produces the yearly Bushwick Open Studios, plans to record 30 interviews and studio visits with a variety of New York creatives during the month of September.
“A lot of people who have gained access to the device have launched projects, which was essentially what I wanted to do,” Katz told ARTINFO. “To my knowledge there are no art-related projects. A lot of people who have the device are using it for educational purposes or for exploration, but this is the first arts and culture project.”
Katz has already posted nine videos in the series, including tours of the Williamsburg studio of artist Jen Dunlap, Lower East Side artist and curator Jason Voegele, and documentary filmmaker Jean Marie Offenbacher. The short videos are modeled on a journalistic reportage format with Katz kicking off each one with a short intro: “I’m Sam Katz here with Gallery Glass and we’re here in Williamsburg, Brooklyn …”
The quality of the clips often isn’t fantastic, an issue Katz says is due to the developing technology. “The product is still in beta so there are no applications geared toward documentation yet,” she said. “I’m one of the first people using it for video and documentation purposes and the technology isn’t as advanced as I may have hoped. What’s interesting about this is it feels more like the actual experience.”
That's not to say that there's nothing interesting here. Perhaps the most novel component of Gallery Glass comes when the glasses are used to capture the first-person perspective of the artists themselves. During her studio visit, Jen Dunlap answers interview questions while wearing the Glass and working on a drawing. We hear her talking about her creative process as it unfolds on video, basically from her point of view. In another video, Williamsburg-based artist James Moore gives Katz a ride on the back of his motorcycle, giving viewers a first-person tour of Brooklyn.
Thomas Stevenson
“My goal is to feature creatives who are completely varied,” she said. “I want to tackle every medium.” Future episodes will feature the work of artist Rachel Beach, artist and technologist Thomas Stevenson, assistant curator of costume at the Museum at FIT Emma McClendon, director of REVERSE Art Space Andrea Wolf, director of Public Art at Fourth Arts Block Keith Schweitzer, Lehmann Maupin Gallery director Liz Dimmitt, and BAMart visual arts curator Holly Shen Chaves.
“Gallery Glass highlights a range of subjects, aiming to make art more accessible and break barriers,” Katz explains. “There are apparent filters from the creative process to what is ultimately seen on gallery walls and online catalogs, breeding misconceptions like 'I am not affluent enough to collect,' 'I am not cool enough to create,' 'I am not versed enough on the subject to talk about the work.' I hope this series will challenge that.” In other words, while many people have fretted that Google Glass will provide a technological filter keeping people from relating to the world in front of them, she hopes that it can do just the opposite.
