I finally received my copy of of Wireltern magazine where Removed is used to illustrate a story about how parents are interacting with smartphones while parenting and how that alters their relationship. Its certainly worth the quick read!
https://www.wireltern.ch/artikel/erziehung-mediennutzung-eltern-0519
|
|
In the early spring of 2016, amidst the media blitz of the 2016 Presidential Election, I noticed something very strange happening online. All across the United States, Facebook users, some real some fake, were creating event invitations for obscure and hard to believe public concerts in unlikely places. The first to catch my attention was “Fred Durst LIVE at Rose's Department Store”. Thousands had RSVP’d and many commented, shared, and argued about the veracity of the event. I knew I needed to show up. The day of the event I made portraits of the those who showed up. The fake event sparked a several months journey for me as I attended dozens more of these events across the country that summer. The project as I could sense was touching on one of the real world examples of how the uncharted territory of social media was falsely shifting peoples opinions, beliefs and even actions. More of the series NoShow can be viewed here.
The day before the 2016 Presidential election I was interviewed on the BBC’s technology program Click and months later the project was introduced as a major solo exhibition in Merignac France for the Merignac Photographic Festival in 2017.
Most recently, one of the images from NoShow was selected for a group exhibition here in my home state. I am excited that the photograph “Hoods Up, 2016” will be on display in large format for the 5th Edition of EYES on MAIN Street in Wilson, NC. The festival officially opens April 27th, 2019 and I’m so excited to be showing at this exhibition once again.
Hoods Up, 2016 / Morganton, NC
So much exciting news that only some of it will fit in this update. Here are the happenings from last winter to now, from India, to Switzerland, to Vietnam and back again. The biggest and most current news is that Thursday I will travel to Vietnam for an exhibition of new "Removed" photographs that were supported by The World Economic Forum. More information on that and much much more below! As always thank you so much for your support. Huge things are happening and I am trying to be better at keeping you up to date with all of it.
I am incredibly fortunate to be working with Rick Wester Fine Art who has now made my work available online via ARTSY. Please support my practice and my family by collecting my prints.
I have been waiting for, and working on this exhibition all year! I met the prolific curator Francois Cheval while in Lianzhou, China last fall. When I told him about NoShow he was immediately enthusiastic about bringing the project to France. This will be my first major solo exhibition in Europe and will include photographs, video, audio, and sculpture. More information about the series can be found here. The exhibition ran from early October to mid December 2017.
Three pieces from Removed are still on their journey around the world as part of the exhibition, Hello, Robot. Design Between Man and Machine. The five year tour began at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, it was later installed at Design Museum Gent in Belgium and is currently on display at the Switzerland based museum Gewerbemuseum Winterthur.
Last year I helped with the student gallery and workshops for the kids of Wilson to create an exhibition of their work. This year I was asked to be one of the 100 participating artists in the Eyes on Main Street Wilson Outdoor Photo Festival. My photograph "Jamie, Jody, and Aiden, 2014" was selected this year and was on exhibit in downtown Wilson, NC from April until August. I will have work from my NoShow series in next years festival.
"Every day we encounter family members, friends, visitors, and strangers; over the course of our lives, our social circle continues to expand. Modern technology makes us feel more connected than ever, allowing us to “meet” endless friends at any time through our screens and to feel like we are never alone. Is this true? This exhibition uses artworks to examine the changing social landscape of the virtual age, illuminating the importance of real relationships in our lives. Visitors are invited to witness encounters – from their first moments to their eventual conclusion – and rediscover the value of face-to-face encounters. Such meetings present invaluable opportunities to deepen our knowledge and understanding of the other, and therefore of ourselves."
Curator: Shir Meller-Yamaguchi
Several pieces from my Holder Series are currently on display at Cassilhaus as part of the group exhibition Diapositive. The exhibition will be up during the Click! Photography Festival and I will give a shared artist talk with the incredibly hardworking and prolific artist and friend of mine, Amy Herman on October 17th, 2018. Information to RSVP for the event is listed both on the Click! and Cassilhaus website.
The World Economic Forum recently reached out to me with the idea of creating new Removed photographs that would represent a glimpse into digital culture across Southeast Asia. In June I spent several weeks photographing across Vietnam, Myanmar, Singapore, and Indonesia. On September 11th, 2018 a selection of the photographs will be revealed at The World Economic Forum on ASEAN 2018 Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam where I will engage with economic leaders on the topics surrounding my work. I'm very excited about the new photographs and can't wait to see where they end up after the summit.
Last November I travelled all across India with the film maker Jessica Sadana and her amazing crew creating Removed photographs and interviewing dozens of people. Our journey was recorded and is now being finalized as a short documentary film which will be released in the next few months. Please keep an eye out for that. I think it will be a film as moving as the photographs I made.
The amazing photo consultant and my lovely agent, Julie Grahame and I will be heading down to Georgia for a workshop on our professional best practices and I'm sure some insight to the horror stories as well. It should be a really fun time together. Sign up if you are in the area!
For editorial and media requests contact Julie Grahame
For print / exhibition inquiries contact Rick Wester Fine Art
I am currently available for editorial assignment and speaking engagements, please contact for booking information.
www.ericpickersgill.com
www.removed.social
www.noshow.social
Below are photographs from my exhibition of the project NoShow at the Merignac Photographic Festival in Merignac, France. The exhibition took place at the Médiathèque in the center of the city. I was thrilled to be able to attend the festival, spend more time with Francois Cheval as well as the additional exhibiting artists and the hundreds of wonderful people who supported the festival.
Photographs by Sébastien Sindeu
Here is an interview with me that the festival put together about my thoughts on photography and the exhibition.
Interview Erick Pickersgill - Mérignac Photographic Festival 2017Les faux évènements Facebook, vous connaissez ? Eric Pickersgill, l'un des artistes du Mérignac Photographic Festival, les as traqués et vous présente son travail à la Médiathèque jusqu'au 17 décembre à travers l'exposition photo "No Show". #MPF2017
Posted by Mérignac on Friday, November 24, 2017
I had the pleasure of speaking with Semana Magazine in Columbia this week. Excited to be sharing the printed version with the pope right now.
I finally carved out the time to put together this email newsletter which highlights the best and most exciting things I have going on this year. Things are going to be VERY busy starting next month so I thought I'd keep this update manageable by doing it now. I will reach out again in October with an update from my exhibition in France and I will also be live updating during my trip to India in November. Stay tuned and thanks for following along with me on this incredible journey.
I had a great time with Bill E. Ramsey of Fireside Network chatting about my work NoShow, going viral, and the amazing Julie Grahame of course. The conversation was a lot of fun and I think we got into the meat of my work. Take a listen if you can take the time. Thanks so much!
Selections from "As Entertaining As Possible" exhibition at the Lianzhou Foto Festival traveled to Chongqing for a stunning re-installation at the Testbed 2 Cultural Creative Park.
Thank again to everyone on the team at Lianzhou Foto Festival, especially Duan Yuting, Francios Cheval, Audrey, and Hu as well as so many others who put in tremendous hours to make the festival and this traveling exhibition possible.
One of the first silver prints from Removed to make a public appearance is this photograph titled Melissa. The 24" x 20" print is hanging in the Rick Wester Fine Art booth #506 at AIPAD The Photography Show in its new location at Pier 94 in New York City.
Thanks to my wonderful agent and photo consultant superstar Julie Grahame for sending me this quick shot.
"Melissa" at The Photography Show '17 / RWFA Booth #605 / Photo by Julie Grahame
I am thrilled to announce that three photographs from Removed are on display in the exhibition "Hello, Robot. Design between man and machine" at The Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany.
Click here for more information about the exhibition.
The exhibition was curated by Amelie Klein (Vitra Design Museum), Thomas Geisler, Marlies Wirth (MAK) and Fredo de Smet (design museum Gent, consultant curator) The curators were supported by an international advisory board. Science fiction writer Bruce Sterling belongs to him as well as the design researcher Gesche Joost, the Turin architect and director of the MIT Senseable City Lab Carlo Ratti, the media expert Sabine Himmelsbach and the cultural and media scientist Paul Feigelfeld.
After the Vitra Design Museum debut the exhibition will travel internationally for several years-
February 11 to 14 May 2017: Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein
June 21 to 1 October 2017: MAK, Vienna
October 27, 2017 - April 14, 2018: Design museum Gent
May 12 to November 4 2018 Gewerbemuseum Winterthur
More destinations TBA
Fellow Columbia College Chicago Alum Cocar Barton-Wooty Woo with his beautiful family visiting my work at the Vitra Design Museum exhibition #hellorobot. The work will travel to Vienna and Gent later this year!
As always, thank you to the team at Rick Wester Fine Art for handling all of the logistics that made this exhibition possible!
