4THBIN 4GOOD - Museum of the Moving Image

We are excited to announce our sponsorship with the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) for the exhibition of “Refreshing the Loop,” an Animated GIF Installation Series! Refreshing the Loop, which brings together artists well-known for their GIFs and artists who gained popularity in the industry throughout recent years, will be on display from April 20, 2023 - January 14, 2024. 

Works by John Karel, Kate the Cursed, and p1xelfool have rapidly proven influential on GIF culture in the contemporary era alongside already recognized artists such as Pastiche Lumumba, Francois Gamma, and Petra Cortright. Each artwork, along with recorded dis­cussions between the paired artists, will be on view in the passenger elevator, online, and at GIPHY.com for three months at a time.

“Refreshing the Loop" continues Museum of the Moving Image’s tradition of displaying GIFs in our passenger elevator. This new iteration places artists who have been widely known for their GIFs for more than two decades in conversation with selected artists who have gained notable popularity in the last few years, as media art has continued to gain momentum towards mass adoption. These three pairings place the artists’ practice and catalogue of works in dialogue, comparing and contrasting their experiences with the file format and the evolving communities that have developed around it. The artists are also involved in the curatorial process, choosing a selection of works from one another that resonates with them personally. Each artwork, along with recorded discussions between the paired artists, will be on view in the passenger elevator, online, and at GIPHY.com for three months at a time.” 

As part of our 4THBIN 4GOOD program, we are honored to share that we provided MoMI with monitors to display the works from this installation. We believe that art is one of the most beneficial creative outlets, as it can help broaden viewers’ horizons through exposure to new ideas and ways of thinking. At 4THBIN, we are passionate about educating our communities, whether it be about the risks associated with e-waste, or other global issues expressed through art. Our sponsorship with MoMI will continue into 2024, with the exhibition of Auriea Harvey: My Veins Are the Wires, My Body Is Your Keyboard. 

Refreshing the Loop can be viewed at the Museum of the Moving Image from April 20, 2023 - January 14, 2024. 

Stay tuned for more about Auriea Harvey: My Veins Are the Wires, My Body Is Your Keyboard, which will be on view from January 26 through June 2024.

To learn more about our 4THBIN 4GOOD program and how you can help us make a big impact, please contact us. 

About the artists:

April 21–July 23, 2023: Francoise Gamma and p1xelfool

Francoise Gamma is an artist based in Barcelona who primarily uses obsolete tools to create his work. Gamma has worked professionally on the internet since 1995. He is a member of the online art collective Computers Club and has been one of the most prominent creators of GIF artwork across the web, beginning as early as Hell.com in 2001. Bipedal bodies created with single-pixel lines have been an active, consistent area of his work. Gamma's work has been featured internationally in group exhibitions at the Tate Modern in London, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, BOZAR in Belgium, and the Museo Sourmaya in Mexico City, and a solo exhibition at American Fantasy Classics.

p1xelfool is a Brazilian artist exploring the perception of time and phenomena through code-based generative art. He explores conversations between machines and humans and raises questions about the limits of organic and synthetic entities. Known for the intricacy and minimalism of their thick pixels, vivid colors, and black backgrounds, p1xelfool’s GIFs have received worldwide attention, including from some of the most prominent artists and collectors. His works are conceptualized with Processing, an open-source and community-led creative coding software. His pixelated worlds have been shown at Art Basel in Miami, Public Records in New York, and curated by Casey REAS for Feral File.

July 28–October 8, 2023: Pastiche Lumumba and Kate the Cursed

Pastiche Lumumba is a multidisciplinary artist whose work examines cultural conventions and normalized power dynamics within the contexts of masculinity and Blackness. He has exhibited internationally as well as on the internet and his work has been featured in publications such as Art Papers, Mask Magazine, and Rhizome. Lumumba is the founder of The LOW Museum of Contemporary Culture in Atlanta, where he served as director and chief curator from 2013 to 2016. He currently lives and works in New York.

Katherina Jesek aka “Kate the Cursed” is a media artist and producer from New York. Her artwork since 2021 focuses on authentic, outdated display technology and draws inspiration from cyberpunk aesthetics. She has been exhibited for Frieze, Los Angeles, SuperRare, Miami Art Week, and the Queer Museum of Digital Art.

October 13, 2023–January 14, 2024: Petra Cortright and John Karel

Petra Cortright is an L.A.-based artist producing work in both tangible and digital environments. An early series of webcam self-portrait videos using filters and effects long before smartphones made them ubiquitous established Cortright as a key figure in the post-internet art movement. Cortright produces paintings, sculptures, and video installations alongside natively digital work, such as GIFs. Solo exhibitions include New York’s Team Gallery and Foxy Production; the Galeria Duarte Sequeira in Braga, Portugal; L.A.’s 1301PE and Depart Foundation; Ever Gold [Projects] in San Francisco; and more. Cortright has been included in group exhibitions at the Walker Art Center, MCA Chicago, Whitechapel Gallery, and the Venice Biennale. Her works are in the permanent collections of many international museums including The Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Stedelijk Museum (Netherlands).

John Karel is an artist, computer animator, and illustrator best known for creating thousands of low-res, low-poly GIF art depicting skeletons and everyday consumer objects. He studied at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and previously worked at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Karel has produced animations for projects like Super Deluxe and is one of the most recognized, collected, and beloved artists involved in the Tezos ecosystem.

About Museum of the Moving Image

Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) is the only institution in the United States that deals comprehensively with the art, technology, enjoyment, and social impact of film, television, and digital media. In its stunning facility in Astoria, New York, the Museum presents exhibitions; screenings; discussion programs featuring actors, directors, and creative leaders; and education programs. It houses the nation’s largest collection of moving image artifacts and screens over 500 films annually. Its exhibitions—including the core exhibition Behind the Screen and The Jim Henson Exhibition—are noted for their integration of material objects, interactive experiences, and audiovisual presentations. For more information about the MoMI, visit movingimage.us