Artist Statement/ Biography

Using video, installation, and para-fictional strategies, Erica Molesworth interrogates the interface between the earth and humanity, particularly through architecture and other interventions in the landscape. Her recent work specifically questions conceptions of 'Utopia:' how it is translated across cultures and time, and the way it is heavily influenced by fantasy, science fiction and neo-colonialist tendencies. Molesworth films utopian experiments, such as techno-utopia in Silicon Valley, the Biosphere 2 in Arizona, and back to the land communes, including one on which she grew up in Australia. She situates these within today’s dystopian discourse, and interweaves footage and sound from multiple sources and technologies, imaginings, ambivalence, and humor to point to our hypermediated perception of these places.

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Erica Molesworth was born in Sydney, Australia, holds a BA/BFA from the University of Sydney, and an MFA from the California College of the Arts. Significant exhibitions include Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Contemporary Jewish Museum, SOMArts and Southern Exposure in San Francisco; the University of Nevada; Channels Video Festival, Firstdraft, and the John Fries Award in Australia. Residencies and fellowships include Bay Area Video Coalition, YBCA, Kala Art Institute, and Hill End Australia. She has received funding from the Australia Council, Alternative Exposure/Andy Warhol Foundation, and CCA, and has given visiting artist lectures at Stanford, the World Wide West conference, and the Living Room Light Exchange. She was a founding co-director of Oakland's women/nonbinary-run art space CTRL+SHFT Collective.