Jill Magid
Encyclopedia
Jill Magid is an American artist. Her genre is difficult to categorize, but may she may be fairly described as a multimedia and performance artist.
in Ithaca, New York
with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
degree. She then studied at MIT and received a Master of Science
degree in Visual Studies.
Magid lived for five years in Amsterdam
where she was artist in residence
at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten from 2001 to 2002. She was with the Eyebeam Art and Technology Center In New York from 2006 to 2007.
Magid's work has been shown at the Yvon Lambert Galleries
in New York and Paris, the Gagosian Gallery
in New York, and in The Hague, Netherlands. Her performances and installations have been shown worldwide in numerous group shows and fairs. She has an upcoming solo show at the Tate Modern
gallery in London.
, printed text, and books. Some of her work might also be characterized as performance art
. A common theme in her works is documentation of her process of creating the work.
Magid's early work created soon after her study at MIT used spy cameras. In Lobby 7 (1999) and Surveillance Shoe (2000) Magid trained the cameras on herself while exploring the technology, logic, and gaze of surveillance. These pieces could be characterized as video art, performance art, and cultural analysis.
Her work after that involved entities that conduct surveillance, such as police, with a particular focus on their tendency to view people as anonymous. Magid would typically place herself within these systems while maintaining her individual identity by getting them to focus on her, with the intent of revealing and engaging the human persons behind the faceless eye of the surveillance camera.
Subsequent works have entailed Magid placing herself within larger systems related to surveillance and developing very close relationships within them. The work becomes a sort of collaboration with people working in these systems and the systems themselves. "I want to engage the system on an intimate, personal level; and for that, access is required." This process of attempting access initiates collaboration, and as Magid engages large and impersonal bureaucratic entities the process generates a trail of documents, made available to the viewer to reconstruct Magid's narrative.
, Magid engaged Citywatch, Liverpool's closed–circuit video surveillance system (one of the largest in the world). Magrid's strategy for gaining access made use of an exception to the law that all footage is erased after 31 days: if a person sends a request form describing who they are, where they were, and what they were doing (along with a photo and ten pounds), the police must store the footage in the evidence locker for seven years. Magrid made such a request for 31 days straight, in the manner of love letters and diary entries.
She ultimately developed a rapport with the agents of Citywatch, and they began to follow her, facilitated by recognizing her patterns of movement and the red coat she wore for that purpose. As Magrid and Citywatch became more aware of each other, issues of trust and pitfalls in the logic of the system came out. In one instance, she stood in a square alone and closed her eyes for an extended amount of time. The video operators were afraid for her safety, but felt helpless because they couldn't tell her if something was going to happen. To take this further, she asked if she could borrow a radio receiver with an earplug so she could close her eyes in a busy street, and be guided by the agents watching.
This work, Evidence Locker, was exhibited in that year's Liverpool Biennial as a site–specific project. It consisted of video installations of Citywatch's footage as well as the written correspondences. Magid also created a website that allows access to the work but with certain elements (such as emails sent to the website viewer unlocking further parts of the site) that control the viewer's experience in such a way as to correspond to Margid's narrative.
who, like Magid, uses herself and events in her personal life to make her artwork. Less interested in larger entities, Calle instigates intimate interactions with strangers by, for instance, inviting people to sleep in her bed for an hour (The Sleepers, 1979). An inspiration for Magrid's technique of altering her identity to gain access to entities is found in Calle's The Hotel (1981), where Calle posed posed as a chambermaid at a hotel to look through and photograph the personal effects of hotel guests, and The Shadow (1981), in which Calle was followed and photographed by a private detective hired by her mother — a clear influence on Evidence Locker, as both works open up inconspicuous or covert surveillance systems as the artists become their subjects.
Life
Magid was graduated in 1995 from Cornell UniversityCornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
degree. She then studied at MIT and received a Master of Science
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
degree in Visual Studies.
Magid lived for five years in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
where she was artist in residence
Artist in residence
Artist-in-residence programs and other residency opportunities allow visiting artists to stay and work so that they may apply singular focus to their art practice....
at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten from 2001 to 2002. She was with the Eyebeam Art and Technology Center In New York from 2006 to 2007.
Magid's work has been shown at the Yvon Lambert Galleries
Yvon Lambert Gallery
Yvon Lambert Gallery is a contemporary art gallery founded by Yvon Lambert in 1966. There are two locations; one in Paris and the second in New York City.-History:...
in New York and Paris, the Gagosian Gallery
Gagosian Gallery
Gagosian Gallery is a contemporary art gallery owned and directed by Larry Gagosian. There are currently eleven gallery spaces: three in New York; two in London; one in each of Beverly Hills, Rome, Athens, Paris, Geneva, Hong Kong and Moscow.-1980s:...
in New York, and in The Hague, Netherlands. Her performances and installations have been shown worldwide in numerous group shows and fairs. She has an upcoming solo show at the Tate Modern
Tate Modern
Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group . It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year...
gallery in London.
Works
Magid uses a variety of media in her work: video, photographs, installationsInstallation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
, printed text, and books. Some of her work might also be characterized as performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
. A common theme in her works is documentation of her process of creating the work.
Magid's early work created soon after her study at MIT used spy cameras. In Lobby 7 (1999) and Surveillance Shoe (2000) Magid trained the cameras on herself while exploring the technology, logic, and gaze of surveillance. These pieces could be characterized as video art, performance art, and cultural analysis.
Her work after that involved entities that conduct surveillance, such as police, with a particular focus on their tendency to view people as anonymous. Magid would typically place herself within these systems while maintaining her individual identity by getting them to focus on her, with the intent of revealing and engaging the human persons behind the faceless eye of the surveillance camera.
System Azure
System Azure is an ongoing work initiated in 2003. In her explorations into surveillance while an artist in residence in Amsterdam, Magid proposed to the Amsterdam police an art project of decorating surveillance cameras. The police rejected this suggestion. Magid returned as a "Security Ornamentation Professional" attached to a fictitious company, complete with portfolio and business card, and pitched the same proposal — but this time as public relations rather than art. This was accepted and Magid was hired to install her work. An alteration of the social roles granted her access, and this point became as much a part of the work as the decorated cameras themselves.Subsequent works have entailed Magid placing herself within larger systems related to surveillance and developing very close relationships within them. The work becomes a sort of collaboration with people working in these systems and the systems themselves. "I want to engage the system on an intimate, personal level; and for that, access is required." This process of attempting access initiates collaboration, and as Magid engages large and impersonal bureaucratic entities the process generates a trail of documents, made available to the viewer to reconstruct Magid's narrative.
Evidence Locker
Evidence Locker is a 2004 work. During the Liverpool BiennialLiverpool Biennial
Liverpool Biennial is a British international festival of contemporary art held in Liverpool. The festival comprises the International Exhibition, the John Moores Painting Prize, the Bloomberg New Contemporaries Exhibition and the Independents Biennial....
, Magid engaged Citywatch, Liverpool's closed–circuit video surveillance system (one of the largest in the world). Magrid's strategy for gaining access made use of an exception to the law that all footage is erased after 31 days: if a person sends a request form describing who they are, where they were, and what they were doing (along with a photo and ten pounds), the police must store the footage in the evidence locker for seven years. Magrid made such a request for 31 days straight, in the manner of love letters and diary entries.
She ultimately developed a rapport with the agents of Citywatch, and they began to follow her, facilitated by recognizing her patterns of movement and the red coat she wore for that purpose. As Magrid and Citywatch became more aware of each other, issues of trust and pitfalls in the logic of the system came out. In one instance, she stood in a square alone and closed her eyes for an extended amount of time. The video operators were afraid for her safety, but felt helpless because they couldn't tell her if something was going to happen. To take this further, she asked if she could borrow a radio receiver with an earplug so she could close her eyes in a busy street, and be guided by the agents watching.
This work, Evidence Locker, was exhibited in that year's Liverpool Biennial as a site–specific project. It consisted of video installations of Citywatch's footage as well as the written correspondences. Magid also created a website that allows access to the work but with certain elements (such as emails sent to the website viewer unlocking further parts of the site) that control the viewer's experience in such a way as to correspond to Margid's narrative.
Sophie Calle
An important precedent for Margid's work is French conceptual artist Sophie CalleSophie Calle
Sophie Calle is a French writer, photographer, installation artist, and conceptual artist. Calle's work is distinguished by its use of arbitrary sets of constraints, and evokes the French literary movement of the 1960s known as Oulipo. Her work frequently depicts human vulnerability, and examines...
who, like Magid, uses herself and events in her personal life to make her artwork. Less interested in larger entities, Calle instigates intimate interactions with strangers by, for instance, inviting people to sleep in her bed for an hour (The Sleepers, 1979). An inspiration for Magrid's technique of altering her identity to gain access to entities is found in Calle's The Hotel (1981), where Calle posed posed as a chambermaid at a hotel to look through and photograph the personal effects of hotel guests, and The Shadow (1981), in which Calle was followed and photographed by a private detective hired by her mother — a clear influence on Evidence Locker, as both works open up inconspicuous or covert surveillance systems as the artists become their subjects.