Opening Reception – Messages & Mediums
Rochester Contemporary Art Center
137 East Ave.
Oct 1, 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Visit RoCo for the first First Friday of autumn! Join us for the opening reception of Messages & Mediums, an exhibition that brings together two artists who explore the intersection of Spiritualism and technology.

Shannon Taggart has been working with and photographing Spiritualist mediums since 2001. Her new series of images, taken over Skype, Zoom, and FaceTime during the pandemic, builds on the long history of spirit photography and technological exploration of the otherworldly.

Matthew Ostrowski’s installation Summerland looks back at the archaeology of communication, mixing 19th-century hardware and 21st-century software to initiate a conversation between the medium Kate Fox, the youngest of the Fox Sisters, and inventor of the telegraph Samuel F. B. Morse. Channeling the voices of these two contemporaries through long-extinct media, the artist evokes the magical lurking in our omnipresent technologies, the ghost in the machine.

This exhibition continues through November 13.

*COVID Policy: We expect this event to be crowded. To reduce risk during the Opening on October 1, RoCo will require proof of vaccination and mask-wearing. If you are unable to get vaccinated, you can visit RoCo during normal gallery hours, Wed – Sun, 12-5pm and Fridays 12-9pm.*