‘Chat, is this real?’; VCUarts exhibition peels back memes, AI and digital diaspora

Lelia Contee, Contributing Writer

VCUarts students are pulling back the digital curtain to explore the blurred boundaries between authenticity and artifice shaped by AI, livestreams and memes in this year’s juried exhibition, according to the event’s website. 

The Undergraduate Juried Exhibition will run from Nov. 13 to Dec. 6 at The Anderson and is juried by Anisa Olufemi, director of programs and curator at Hamiltonian Artists. The show will feature the works of 52 student artists. 

The exhibition’s name “Chat, is this real?” was popularized by famed Twitch streamer iShowSpeed, who posed the question to his audience in reaction to fabricated content. It has been a staple of Gen-Z lexicons ever since.

The theme arose from Olufemi’s first experience with TikTok this year. She said she was shocked by the “phenomena that TikTok produces” through viral trends and mimicked sounds. 

“I felt it was relevant too, with it being an undergrad show,” Olufemi said. “It’s so relevant to that generation, and I felt like it would be something people could immediately find relation to in their work.” 

The exhibition’s themes are drawn from the artists’ submissions. These themes include data and memory, gamification and glitch, identity, worldbuilding and meaning in mirrors.

Rowan Leary, a fourth-year sculpture student, will feature two pieces at the exhibition, including one titled “Data Processing Unit.” Leary used found objects, such as dirt and potatoes from Richmond, to convey ideas about how people would view technology in a future where current systems no longer exist. 

“I want [the audience] to think about our futures and our systems and like, how precarious the systems that we have right now are,” Leary said. 

Rebecca Karabin, a fourth-year painting and printmaking student, will feature works called “Oscillation” and “The Dangers of Teleportation.” 

“Oscillation” is a cut-out wood piece that is projected by an iPad, exploring the idea of relationships experienced through screens, Karabin said. “The Dangers of Teleportation” is a multimedia self-portrait on cutwood, where she depicts herself as an ear. The work questions self-filtering through the internet under the guise of teleportation and reconfiguration on “the other side,” according to Karabin. 

“The topic is mostly about AI and the internet and internet memes and internet culture and how things can get misunderstood or falsified,” Karabin said. “I was thinking about how we get filtered through technology in general.” 

With a two-part set called “Cache” and “Cache2,” fourth-year sculpture student Kiera O’Harrow, uses metals, rocks, sea glass and photographs to explore memory, time and authenticity. 

The first piece, “Cache,” uses a brass and copper mobile adorned with rocks and sea glass, representing balance and holding memories, according to O’Harrow. “Cache2”, the second piece, is a welded steel grid that displays small photographs, reflecting on disparate memories and decay. 

“I hope that they’re [the audience] interested in it visually and that they’re curious about why I made it or it makes them think more about their memories or objects that they hold,” O’Harrow said. 

The show will begin with a juror lector at 5 p.m., followed by an awards ceremony and will end with an exhibition reception on Thursday, Nov. 13.