An encounter with the work of Darren Bader leaves one open for both ambivalence and connections, as he devises a unique participatory environment which at first, the viewer (or reader) may not even register being a part of. BOMBlog’s Jenny Borland collaborated with Bader on the following conversation.

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David Horvitz,infuses his practice with generosity and free distribution, concepts that are at the forefront of his most recent endeavor, Drugstore Beetle.

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Jessie Stead’s work doesn’t use film or video as an escape from the everyday, but a means to confront and examine the present moment. Capturing her interventions with the everyday, she politicizes the role of the star, director, and viewer—roles she plays all at once. Her work couldn’t be anything but a reflection, parody, and poem of today.

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Energy drinks and LEDs shock the system and set the stage for Josh Kline’s curiously energized creative practice.

Josh Kline’s first solo show in New York, Dignity and Self Respect at 47 Canal, welcomed its viewers to the residual shock of the present, in a culture fueled by energy drinks, reality television, LED lighting, and the virtual Internet world that increasingly infringes upon daily existence. As an artist, curator, and collaborator, Kline’s practice often transcends the physical art object to pinpoint the nature of labor and productivity in a climate of posthuman conditions. We discussed his work and exhibition on a rare day off in Brooklyn.

Jenny Borland After watching the entirety of your video What Would Molly Do?, my experience of the exhibition seemed to shift—perhaps creating anxiety as I felt more implicated as relating to these interviewees. I’m curious about the video’s role in the show and if you could discuss some of the decisions made while filming?

Josh Kline The show’s focus was creative labor. Lifestyle aspirations encourage young people to make tremendous sacrifices for their careers today. Young creative people cast aside their dignity and in many ways, their humanity, for a chance to get started on the road to self-actualization. A job interview can be seen as a kind of sacrificial altar where you offer yourself up as a commodity, as a product. In the exhibition, I was offering up a suite of human products: the hands and gestures and biological material of creative workers, images of mass-produced celebrities, drug foods, and, in the video, potential interns.

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