The Harvard Square Business Association, in partnership with Intercontinental Management, is pleased to announce “Gl{i}tch”, the latest installation at the 25/8 artspace project located at 2 Linden Street in Harvard Square.
Behind VA Shadows presents artist Maria Servellón’s solo exhibition, “Gl{i}tch,” on view from September 13 to October 20, 2023. Organized and curated by Yolanda He Yang, “Gl{i}tch” brings forth a group of multimedia works, including video, sculpture, and painting. Altogether, the exhibition attempts to create a site-specific viewing experience for the public to immerse in the color, motion, and ambience stimulated by glitch art.
Denise Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, commented, “We are delighted to collaborate with Intercontinental Management and Yolanda He Yang on this compelling art installation. Transforming this recently renovated space into a popup gallery provides an opportunity for reflection and discussion, for which Harvard Square is known. We are grateful for community partners, like Intercontinental, who recognize the value of local artists, welcoming them to share their gifts, thereby enhancing the pedestrian experience in the Square.
Working within the realm of glitch art, Servellón is deeply drawn by both the philosophical and aesthetic aspects of the glitch, a technical malfunction or human error. Subverting our traditional perception of these errors, the artist embraces the “happy mistakes” through the exhibition and seeks to illuminate an alternative experience that is also authentic to our daily lives.
Being her first solo exhibition, “Gl{i}tch” encapsulates the artist’s decade-long artmaking practice through a range of media and materials. The elongated and narrow exhibition space is punctuated by kaleidoscopic color emitted by different forms of glitch art. In the video work “Now or How I Wished It Was” (2022), effervescent light projects onto malleable fabric and crumpled cellophane surface, creating an iridescent temporality across the space. A color palette native to the digital space is constantly in flux, both on and beyond the screen. In the exhibition, the physical intertwines with the digital, revealed through the sculpture “Hand Glitch{ed}” (2023) and the painting “Alterations of Is” (2023). Both highly tactile, the two abstract works attempt to recreate the visual effect of glitch within a limited, prepackaged spectrum of color codes, standing in contrast with the infinite possibilities and abundance in the digital space. The intricate texture and volume underscored by the two works simultaneously add a mesmerizing layer of magic reality to the rich and fluid color hues.
Concertedly, Servellón’s artistic intervention repositions viewers to approach the reality from a different perspective, one that finds serendipitous qualities within errors. While engaging with the tension amongst perfection, clarity, and concision, “Gl{i}tch” itself is a site of paradox: the video projection is carefully tested and calibrated to smoothly run the imperfect visuals. Hence, the exhibition provides another perspective to the analogy between the human body and the machine generated pieces of art: that care and rest are crucial in sustaining a functioning and sometimes flawed life. The video component of “Gl{i}tch” will be activated from Fridays to Mondays and take a break during the rest of the week.
