The Gallery
Taking its name from a blue box, an early "phreaking" tool used to gain unauthorized access to telephone consoles, Blue Box Gallery aims to showcase contemporary artwork that redefines, remixes and reinterprets – in other words, hacks – conventional art-making practices. The notion of a "blue box" also makes a conspicuous reference to the "white cubes of modern-day galleries and museums to which Blue Box acts as a foil, in keeping with hacking's tradition of borrowing and appropriation. As a mobile gallery, Blue Box brings New Media art to a rotating host of alternative urban spaces.
Blue Box's artists harness the potential of emerging technologies and re-imagine them in unique and innovative ways, all the while investigating the cultural implications of these new tools. Our artists are as much a product of the digital age as they are responsible for defining it. They are social surveyors, primed to examine the continuously evolving relationship between technology and culture.
Mission
Blue Box exhibitions will consider a variety of relevant conversations, ranging from the fabrication of virtual identities and issues of intellectual property to the ever-current open source debate. It is within this period of hypermodernity that Blue Box finds a framework.
Who We Are
Karen Bookatz
Karen Bookatz currently works as the Marketing and Communications Director at Enrique Norten/TEN Arquitectos, an architectural design firm with offices in New York and Mexico City. She holds a BA in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA in Art History and Architectural History from Columbia University. A former arts and design journalist, Karen recognizes the importance of artists working in the medium of their time, which, in the digital age, translates to new media technologies.
Julia Kaganskiy
Julia Kaganskiy lives and breathes all things art and technology. She is currently global editor for The Creators Project, a new initiative from VICE and Intel dedicated to showcasing the ways technology is enabling creativity. She is also the founder of the Arts, Culture and Technology (ArtsTech) meetup, a monthly event series exploring the intersection of art and technology. She is passionate about technology's potential as an artistic medium as well as its ability to increase access and engagement with the arts. Julia was recently named one of Fast Company's Most Influential Women in Technology for 2011.