Subsurface Hell · Sara Ludy

bitforms gallery is pleased to announce Subsurface Hell, Sara Ludy's first solo exhibition with the gallery. The works investigate digital feng shui — while the ancient Chinese doctrine identifies physical, cosmic, and psychic energy, Ludy applies its philosophical methodology to her lived experience online. The organization of our physical environments affects us deeply: there is something to be said about the feel of a certain room, or how you like to lie on a particular side of the bed. Ludy's practice distills her movement through virtual space. The name of a folder on her computer, Subsurface Hell is an archive of found photos Ludy has collected since 2000. Though there are many themes within the folder — everyday life, domesticity, interiors, objects, life forms, virtual reality — narratives emerge from the continually growing archive. The feed epitomizes Ludy's notion of the digital uncanny: content is recognizable in its form, but removed from experience. Everything happens all at once and is irreducibly flattened: cute animals, memes, terrorist attacks, photos of family and friends, natural disasters. In the deluge of content, none of which can be absorbed in its entirety, Ludy saves images to fully process her online experience. Low Prim Room (2012–2016) is an installation with 1056 found images from this living archive; a digital painting from Ludy's Clouds series is projected as the border. Cloud Relief 1 and 2 (2015–2016) dissolve source material into charged virtual mist. These pooling ashes crystallize into Animistics (2013–2016), a series of mystical objects. An online work, xzw9hz8hzy9yx1j23hwy2x09uzj.us (2015), serves as an extension of the exhibition.

Works