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HURT/COMFORT
Kara Güt
PYLON is pleased to present Hurt/Comfort by Kara Güt at HYBRID Box starting on June 23, 2022.
Kara Güt is a multidisciplinary artist whose primary focus is image-based, digital media. Her work investigates the new shape of human intimacy formed by internet lifestyle, constructed detachment from reality, and the power dynamics of the virtual.
Güt received her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 2016 and currently lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a 2021 alumni of the Pioneer Works Tech Residency and her work has been presented internationally in group shows, as well as solo presentations, such as recently at SPACES, Cleveland and at Galerie Éphémère, Montreal.
The exhibition is kindly supported by Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen.
*Die Ausstellung wird unterstützt durch die Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen. Die Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen wird mitfinanziert durch Steuermittel auf der Grundlage des vom Sächsischen Landtag beschlossenen Haushaltes.
“Hurt/Comfort” is a series of confessional vignettes: The Character, The Camera, Fandom, and Two Trade Places. The video imagines the live-stream as the contemporary confession booth. The protagonist of the video - a streamer, attempts to speak to an invisible audience while playing Elden Ring. However, something has gone wrong; the streamer’s image has been distorted. The confessions are spoken from a place of subconsciousness as the streamer watches helplessly, frozen behind a gaussian blur. A chat dialogue comforts the streamer during the ordeal, appearing to sympathize with her condition. Eventually, the chat dialogue manifests as a second avatar in the game, and the two “trade places.” On the opposite screen is a written account of the events, synced to the moment they occur. Originally, “Hurt/comfort” is a genre of fan fiction in which pain is inflicted on a character so that they might be rehabilitated, usually by their counterpart or romantic partner. In the interest of deconstructing the self, the chat and livestreamer relationship stands as a sort of mix between socratic dialogue and hurt/comfort fan fiction.