How to make friends online, A solo exhibition by Liel Bomberg showcasing collaborations with friends online
In today’s oversaturated digital world, we find ourselves immersed in elaborate virtual performances - assembling and disassembling parts of our identities, masquerading and marketing ourselves in cyberspace - whether consciously or not. How aware are we of the complex interrelationships between reality and the virtual places we consume? In recent years, Bomberg has explored the delicate line between our private life experiences and those we carefully place on display online for the world to see.
The inception of the internet and social networking communities has led to the deconstruction of personal and abstract ideas of who we really are, blurring the lines between truth and fiction. In his show "How to make friends online," Bomberg flips the story and explores the ways in which virtual spaces can be represented and shown in the real world.
In Bomberg's first solo exhibition, "How to make friends online" presents a broad spectrum of images, both fantastical and ordinary, created in collaboration with various creatives online - artists, designers, programmers, dancers, strippers, drag queens, influencers and more. Together, they designed a new shared space, bustling with activity, that bridges both digital and physical experiences to build a new hybrid environment.
Using advanced technology, we have all become photographers and documentarists. What was once reserved for professionals and darkrooms has become an accessible and mobile device that we carry with ourselves everywhere we go. The power dynamic has been flipped on its head because now, anyone with online access has the potential to curate content. The medium of photography has expanded its boundaries to the point where everything created through a lens becomes an image that can be spread to millions of people with one click.
“How to make friends online” seeks to define photography as one of many elements that play a defining part in contemporary culture, bridging the IRL to the URL. The exhibition is followed by a wide educational program that will serve as a platform for artists and creators from various fields. Gallery talks, performances, and live stream events in real-time will welcome various creators to join the conversation and offer their perspectives, to encourage the discussion about technology’s effects on our past, present, and future selves.
Special events
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Sadan Records: Karin Kimel, Yoel Peled, Tom Segev, Shira Shvadron x ERRANTH (Mexico City), Wifiovermybody (Shanghai), HRZG & Itaaai (Berlin). Request Lorraine DJ set and Original Sin Boys live show
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Anthropos transforming A collaboration between four friends who met on the internet, Tomer Versace, Shira Shvadron, ERRANTH (Mexico City) and Liel Bomberg. In this collabration we explore how can we transform the human body (Anthropos in greek) in virtual spaces. We use our skin, body parts, motion capture sensors (with Noitom suit) and technology to upload Tomer Versace to live 3D scenes , acknowledging our ability to shapeshift in different environments.
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For her debut performance, internet pop star ERA will invade the white cube of the gallery and transform it into her stage.
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A performance by Noa Simhayof Shahaf exploring automatic self-photography through drag and a mix of narratives. In the process, Saar Matalon will dj and complete the story into one.
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Digital Gender A conversation with Aliyah Hoff about the significance of the internet in creating spaces for communities to come together. Online identity has given people the opportunity to feel comfortable in wide-ranging roles, some of which may be underlying aspects of the user's life that they are unable to portray in the real world.
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The gallery space will become a one-night party with deconstructed PC Music by Guy Assif.
Collaborators
Aliyah Hoff, ERA (Toronto), ERRANTH (Mexico City), Eyal Chowers (New York), Ben Zaiger, gggaaallleeerrryyy Team, Guy Assif, Itamar Harel, Itzik Vakil, Karin Kimel (Berlin), HRZG, Itaaai (Berlin), Matthew Chen (Vancouver), Michal Elyakim, Nancy Schnider, Nir Abergil, Noa Simhayof Shahaf, Ohad Peleg, Omer Shachar, Oren Knaan, Orian Spivak, Original Sin Boys Live, Or Sultany, Or Tseiri, PAG TLV Collective, Rock Hojerat, Sa'ar Matalon, Sadan Records, Shachar Atwan, Shahaf Mor, Shira Shvadron Movement in Capture, Tair Adato (New York), Tal Fudim, Tal Ziv, Tomer Versace, Tom Segev Anis7k, Yoel Peled, Yuval Kritshtein (Sydney), Wifiovermybody (Shanghai)
