About
Distant.Gallery is a (non-profit) foundation and online platform where people can come together informally, and meet online. It is constructed in such a way that it respects users' data, does not store or resell it, and does not play visitors off against each other through likes and algorithms. This capacity for social connection, an alternative to “Big Tech” built for a cultural landscape, is the platform's strength. We engage with a variety of communities involved in digital and networked art, with an emphasis on bringing groups together that would not necessarily be able to find each other, nor interact in the Western-dominated art world. Building professional and creative relationships cannot be reserved exclusively for those privileged enough to fly from artfair to biennial, have a nanny, or happen to be born in a particular place. distant.gallery provides online spaces for artists, in an equal non-commercial context where independence and online privacy is guaranteed.
International and local at the same time, it creates the opportunity to discover artists and exhibitions that one would usually never be able to see, either because they are happening in places that are too far from home, or lack the immediate resources to be staged in a physical realm. Visitors get the chance to see shows from all over the world - such as Taiwan, Nairobi, Los Angeles, Mexico City, or Amsterdam - without having to cross borders. The online gallery functions in such a way that visitors of an exhibition can meet each other and start a conversation without having to plan anything, whilst touring the space together. The encounters unfold just as they would in the physical world; when two (or more) users stand in front of the same artwork on distant.gallery, an audio connection is made using the same technology as most online meetings, but with space for intuitive or serendipitous interaction.
There are many initiatives, institutions, platforms, and collectives worldwide that are committed to encouraging artistic expression in their local, social, cultural, and geographic environments. It is especially pertinent in a time when the importance of (cultural) identity, the re-evaluation of perspective, and the ongoing awareness of new and post-colonial ways of working become ever urgent - it is essential that these organizations continue to be supported and do not operate alone. In order to flourish we need conversations with peers and the exchange of ideas. Doing so on an international stage is a route towards irrefutably establishing and deepening various voices and narratives. In the relatively short period of time that distant.gallery has been operating, we have already worked with many artists and curators for whom the digital world is the only way to communicate their work and reality. Some have fled, others would never be able to show their work in their home countries for political reasons. They find each other on distant.gallery - a network is building. And once a connection has been made it cannot be undone.
Do you have a project proposal? Please don’t hesitate to reach out to admin@distant.gallery
Network
The team of distant.gallery has worked together with a roster of various organizations such as Contemporary&, Internet Freedom Foundation, LIMA, Videotage HK, Eyebeam, Upstream, Office Impart, Pioneer Works, HEK Basel, SKD Dresden, ZKM Karlsruhe, Ocean Archive, and Hyundai Artlabs.
Artists who have exhibited on distant.gallery in solo and group shows include Isaac Kariuki, Lawrence Lek, Lorna Mills, Yehwan Song, Petra Cortright, and Sam Lavigne, amongst many, many, others. For a full overview of past projects, please see our archive
“I was first very reluctant to use this platform, because part of me is a really traditional academic who likes to write texts, but this has really opened my eyes. I realized we can present new ideas, for this we can use Zoom, we can use Google Docs, we can publish a letter in a newspaper, but the communication aspect is completely different. (...) Hopefully, we can chat with one another, this is really amazing. I will use this platform for my classes.” - Dr. Lev Manovich
Distant.Gallery has previously received funding from the Mondriaan Fund, the Cultuurfonds and the Creative Industries Fund NL.
Organizations and projects we have partnered with:
Aksioma Institute for Contemporary Art, Casa del Lago UNAM, Cashmere Radio, Chelouche Gallery, Chinatown Soup, CLOT Magazine, Connected Art Platform, Contemporary And (C&), DAHproject, Electric Artefacts, Futura Tropica, Hivemind DAO, Hong-gah Museum, Institute of Network Cultures, Internet Freedom Foundation, LIMA, The Mythical Institution, Off Site Project, ODRA, Pioneer Works, Pop Post Poetics, TERREMOTO, TextielMuseum Tilburg, TRANSFER Gallery, Valiz, Videotage, VUNU Gallery, and V2_.
Team
Director - Constant Dullaart
Constant Dullaart (NL, 1979) lives and works between Amsterdam and Berlin. Exploring how social and cultural values reverberate in tools and technology, Dullaart creates works to emphasize an enjoyable friction between old and new, manual and automated, online and offline, real and not. He deconstructs and analyzes the specific human circumstances under which technological instruments are created, and how this influences the way the instruments are consequently used. Dullaart investigates these processes via the creation of his own ‘artisanal’ social media platform common.garden. Revisiting his research into neural networks, he probes how phenomena like glossolalia and apohenia can create a bridge between person and technology. Dullaart is professor Networked Materialities at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Nürnberg.
Curator - Nina Lissone
Nina Lissone (NL/SP, 1995) is a curator and writer working chiefly with topics of counter-cultures and subversion within the digital realm, whose interests revolve around disembodied context and narrative-building. She has contributed as a curator to shows at ASC Project Space, the Digital Art Observatory and the Window Gallery at Central Saint Martins. Her writings have been published by Vice, i-D and Village Underground, amongst others.
Creative Developer - Ties van Asseldonk
Ties van Asseldonk (NL, 1998) is a developer, artist & maker. Working in both the digital and the physical world, he usually collaborates with other artists, creating unique objects, websites and digital experiences. Most of his current work is as a web developer, having worked on different hand-crafted websites, including working together with Constant Dullaart on common.garden since the start of the project in early 2020. Ties graduated from ArtEZ University of the Arts in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in Interaction Design.