Jeremy Rotsztain^CA/US

Driven by new modes of abstraction in the age of information, Jeremy Rotsztain works as an artist through his knowledge in software programming. He experiments with computer graphics through virtual reality, video installations and mobile phone apps, approaching his practice as a creative coder. The media of painting is heavily present in his colorful and digital artworks. Rotsztain challenges the capacities of human attention by presenting his art as a distraction. He holds a master’s degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally, including Zentrum für Kunst und Medien (ZKM), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, New York Hall of Science, Boston Cyber Arts Festival, Festival du nouveau cinéma de Montréal, and New Forms Festival. Jeremy was born in Toronto, Canada, and now resides and works in Portland, Oregon.

Jeremy Rotsztain ^CA/US — Walking a Turtle

Walking a Turtle is a virtual reality game where the user goes on a walk with a tortoise, an interpretation of Walter Benjamin’s accounts of a curious ritual of Parisian flâneurs. “Around 1840 it was briefly fashionable to take turtles for a walk in the arcades.” The experience can be viewed as a wellness tracker within a farcical game since it is expressed as a tool for resisting the attention economy. Players must endure an obstacle course with an unwavering gaze to be conditioned into a state of presence.