NATURAL CONTACTS 

An Exhibition by Mark Fingerhut, Peter Burr, & Matthew D. Gantt

Oct. 5 - 13, 2024

NATURAL CONTACTS is an exhibition of absurdist software interventions by Mark Fingerhut, Peter Burr, & Matthew D. Gantt. Its centerpiece, a collaborative work by the three artists in collaboration with Bridget DeFranco, repurposes a work computer into a synthetic ecosystem that lives and dies every 24 hours.
 

This exhibition also features solo computational pieces from Burr, Fingerhut, and Gantt. Collectively, these works play with how computational processes mimic, distort, and reimagine natural phenomena. It invites critical consideration of our social world and the potential for finding new arrangements within its weird and idiosyncratic fissures.
 

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Peter Burr’s practice often engages with tools of the video game industry in the form of immersive cinematic artworks. These pieces have been presented internationally by various institutions including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. His practice has been recognized through grants and awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Creative Capital Grant. He is a current PhD candidate in the Games and Simulation Arts & Sciences program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
 

Mark Fingerhut writes computer software that transforms operating systems into a space for digital theatre and a tool for physical performance. Using these same tools, he composes temporal desktop poems focusing on themes such as time, interpersonal connection, communication, chaos, and coincidence. A 2015 graduate of Pratt Institute, his work has gained international recognition through exhibitions at Ars Electronica, performances at the New Museum, and on platforms associated with Adult Swim and Rhizome.
 

Matthew D. Gantt is an artist, composer, and educator focused on sound in virtual spaces, generative systems facilitated by idiosyncratic technology, and digital production presets as sonic readymades. He worked as a studio assistant to electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick and has been an active participant in the international creative community, presenting at spaces such as Pioneer Works, Issue Project Room, Roulette, Société des arts Technologiques, ICST Zurich, and countless DIY venues across North America. He releases sound and music with Orange Milk and Oxtail Recordings.