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HIDDEN THREADS

HOT•BED is pleased to present Hidden Threads, a group exhibition curated by Bryan Hoffman that explores the subconscious memories that inform our identities. As we navigate daily life, sensory stimuli may provoke unrelated recollections or emotions from the past. The work in the show is inspired by these involuntary memories, also known as “mind-pops,” which form the “hidden threads” that weave together our everyday experiences. Inspired by this idea, artists Katee Boyle, Carlos Alejandro, Alex Griffin, and János Korodi are exhibiting works spanning painting, photography, videography/projection mapping by N.E.thing_productions (Matt Nelson), sculpture, installations, and works on paper. In addition to their individual pieces, Boyle, Alejandro, and Nelson have also contributed new collaborative projects created especially for this exhibition. This is the first exhibition that will utilize the entirety of HOT•BED’s space, including its main gallery and MICRO•GALLERY. Hidden Threads will flow through the gallery, intensifying as it goes, while acting as a subconscious space that visitors are invited to explore. Staff will intentionally provide little direction, as to ensure total autonomy over how deeply visitors would like to dive into the recesses of the space and mind. Hidden Threads will be on view from September 11 - November 12, 2021 with an opening event on September 11, 2021 at 6-10 pm EST. To RSVP, please visit https://www.hotbedphilly.com/appointments. “Mind-pops” occur without effort or exerted influence, often during habitual activity. Everyone experiences these moments — when you taste, see, hear, smell, or touch something and suddenly a rush of memory surfaces. These memories can be powerful catalysts for creative expression or harmful triggers for negative emotions. “What it shows us is that our subconscious often knows the meaning of an experience, even if consciously we don't," Professor Lia Kvavilashvili of the University of Hertfordshire told Scientific American. Inspired by this phenomenon, each artist in Hidden Threads references or explores the idea through their own distinct style and conceptual lens. Korodi considers memory by portraying the visceral experience of moving through space and time. His never-before-exhibited “Transfer” series (2020) continues his work with street views in a new medium; the artist takes images from Google Maps and prints them onto raw plywood sheets using a dye sublimation process. The romantic yet ghostly works retain the patterns and textures of the wood, with the street view images superimposed on top of them, mirroring the way memory is layered over the present. Korodi will also be showing works from his “Motion” and “Bridges in Motion” series. Boyle gives us an intimate window into the place where past, present, and future are always meeting, fighting, coexisting, and collaborating. Her work “resonates with a tug of memoir, the desire to move forward but always with a strong gravitational pull of the past.” For Hidden Threads, Boyle has teamed up with Alejandro and Matt Nelson of N.E.thing_productions on a series of “flip book” video projections, which expand upon the narrative of Boyle’s paintings and sculptures. The projections — shot by Alejandro and featuring Boyle — will be exhibited mapped over Boyle’s installation pieces, on top of horticulture displays designed by curator Bryan Hoffman, and against the walls of the gallery, creating an immersive experience that echoes the disarray of the subconscious. In addition to the projections, Alejandro also contributes individual works to the show, including photographs and enlarged negatives hung in a line to mimic the set up of a dark room. By utilizing the traditional medium of analog photography — including a variety of uniquely complex techniques for developing and printing his images — Alejandro reflects on memory, artistic craft, and what is lost or preserved in the passage of time. Griffin paints landscapes and architectural spaces in a raw, fuzzy style that mimics the haze of the past, but retains its emotional resonance. Though the pieces are often somber and visually sparse, Griffin gives structure to memory, making it visible in new ways. Rather than striving for photorealistic perfection, the artist captures what it feels like to almost grasp a memory before it slips back into the subconscious layers of the mind. (Griffin and Boyle have previously shown work together at Scarlett Thicket Farms in Chester County.) All together, the exhibition presents a rich and layered depiction of memory and its elusive “mind pops.” In probing the possibilities of this complex, confounding, and distinctly human experience, Hidden Threads asks us to consider what we know we know, as well as that which we can only hope to catch a glimpse of some day.