Created for the Open Source Gallery, Anamorphosis was a spatial and relational exploration of what makes and defines a neighborhood, set in, and inspired by, the area surrounding the gallery. The exhibit’s video and photo installations sought to collectively make visible the physical and social lines that demarcate and connect a community. Through site-specific and mobile media projects that encouraged residents to reflect upon their neighborhood and share their stories, the /rive collective highlighted the relationships between public space, mobile technology and local or microhistories.

Horizon Lines (Multimedia 360 Installation)

“ While the piece is strikingly visual, the usage of urban sounds plays a pivotal role, as they surround the viewer in the space. “

Power Up Your Mobile Device For /Rive Collective’s
‘Anamorphosis’ At Open Source Gallery
by Donny Levit, Park Slope Stoop

In Horizon Lines, Annie Berman and Samara Smith uncovered the edges that mark one Brooklyn neighborhood’s undefined and immutable borders. By visually exploring lines of demarcation, Berman and Smith investigated the areas where neighborhood life met neighborhood boundaries. Two full wall projections filled the gallery with time-lapse videos of neighborhood boundaries. Visitors’ shadows were cast onto the images, bringing the viewers into the work by contrasting the relatively static “edge” spaces with the active, human movement of neighborhood community. To reinforce this, three soundscapes played in the gallery, with the center audio speakers featuring the sounds of human interaction from the neighborhood

Convergence Lines (Interactive SMS Crowdsourced Photo Exhibit)

“The experience for this installation begins with a text message to activate your involvement in the exhibit… an intriguing opportunity for neighbors and participants to engage in shared and public spaces, and the collaborative creation of the installation”

Power Up Your Mobile Device For /Rive Collective’s
‘Anamorphosis’ At Open Source Gallery
by Donny Levit, Park Slope Stoop

In Convergence Lines, Samara Smith and A.E. Souzis outlined one Brooklyn neighborhood’s social connections by mapping photographs sourced from area’s residents. Visitors to the exhibit and residents were invited to submit photographs via text throughout the month of January. When the images were collected, exhibited and mapped, they create a complex portrait of the surrounding communities, offering a glimpse into the many individual narratives that exist within one neighborhood. Resulting maps illustrated points of community connection in a neighborhood often defined more by its edges than by its center.

A /rive collective collaboration by Samara Smith and A.E. Souzis.

Exhibition: 

• Open Source Gallery January 2016