Open through July 3rd
How The Internet Changed My Life
Virtual reality, NFTs and physical installation
by Nicole Ruggiero
Upside Down World
Immersive installation & NFTs
by David Henry Nobody Jr.
Vogue “Meet the NFT artists advocating for LGBTQIA+ representation in the metaverse”
Metaverse Post “In Brooklyn, NFT show turns the art world upside down”
11 Newel Gallery presents an interactive exhibition by Nicole Ruggiero and David Henry Nobody Jr. that invites the public to participate and play both as actors and observers. Viewers are allowed to glance into the virtual life of others and walk into immersive installations in an “upside-down-world.” Come join us and play!
“How The Internet Changed My Life” is a participatory documentary by Nicole Ruggiero, where viewers encounter the elusive entity of The Internet through personal stories. Presented as a large-scale installation, this exhibition includes mixed reality portraits, VR worlds, an AR face filter, and a retro website, sharing life changing moments with The Internet as active experiences. Nicole’s VR collaborators include artist and developer, Daniel Sabio (The Glad Scientist) and music composer Dylan Banks.
Starting in 2018, Nicole interviewed various individuals about their relationship with the net. She chose 6 to focus on, pairing each story with a portrait and collaborating with friends to create various immersive digital experiences that reflect her interpretation of what the internet may be like through each individual's eyes.
Nicole Ruggiero's work is deeply inspired by technology's emotional, social, and aesthetic culture and how that culture also manifests itself "irl". Ruggiero displays this time-and-time again through animation, stills, and collaborative physical installations.
This exhibition was shown previously during Art Basel at HeK Basel in Switzerland (2021) and at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf in Germany (2021). Editioned NFTs will be dropped on Opensea for the first time for the opening of the show.
“Upside Down World” by David Henry Nobody Jr. is a site-specific installation of an inverted room presented with a new series of performance video NFTs. The set is meant to be the living quarters of a cybernetic butler avatar in a burned out mansion. Each video is an imaginary tableau of the character's subconscious nightmares and fantasies reflecting a time of massive geo-political challenges. The wheel represents the hectic movements of the cycle of life as humanity is being tumbled into unknown territories. These inverted realities become a conversation on collective illusions in society.
David Henry Nobody Jr. created this immersive installation in continuation of his body of work reflecting on Dada absurdity. Over the years, David Henry Nobody Jr. has gained a large following using himself as a canvas, creating disturbing expressions chock full of sarcasm. Interrupting the hypocrisy of the norm, his interpretation of society thus is filtered through the looking glass of social media and Web3. “Upside Down World” is an invitation for the public to participate and insert themselves into the work to take selfies, play, and post: #upsidedownnobody.
David’s work is a critical commentary on capitalism and consumerism. Using performance art as a metaphorical medicine to overcome his personal disenchantments with society, he creates severe distortions, emotional exaggerations, and predicaments.
David’s work has been exhibited and performed widely at international galleries and museums including at MOCA Tucson (AZ,) Unit London (UK,) Andrew Edlin Gallery (NYC), Superchief Gallery (NYC), and Coleccion Solo (Spain).
Artists
Nicole Ruggiero is a 3D visual artist whose work concentrates on tech and culture. She was one of the first people on Foundation in late 2020 and she spoke at NFT NYC in 2021. Her recent exhibi- tions are as follows: a 1/1 exhibition at LA Art Show with Super- Rare and Vellum (2021), an international billboard exhibition with König Galerie and Porsche (2021), an exhibition with Rarible during Frieze Art Week in LA (2022), an exhibition with OpenSea at SXSW (2022), and a viewing exhibition with Christie’s in the middle east during the Art Dubai (2022).
David Henry Nobody Jr. is a New York based multimedia artist working in performance art, video art and NFTs. His work has been exhibited and performed widely at international galleries and museums including at MOCA Tucson (AZ,) Unit London (UK,) Andrew Edlin Gallery (NYC), Superchief Gallery (NYC) and Coleccion Solo (Spain).
