Ian Hersko and Silas Long

AutoGenesis, 2022

Inkjet print on paper and polyester, stoneware, video with audio

The installation AutoGenesis explores a self-coded queer and trans experience that resists dichotomy and integrates our digital and away-from-keyboard selves. The immersive installation by Rainbow’s collaborators Ian Hersko and Silas Long references the dark, cave-like places where our identities emerge. While our bodies are hyper-surveilled, we remain largely hidden in society. The dark corners of the web and nightlife allow for the unpoliced expression and are a source for experimentation where we explore the dynamics between visceral and virtual, visible and invisible, and sexual empowerment and fetishization. The installation features video pieces Ava Wanbli, Dominic Rabalais, and M’Shinda Imani Abdullah-Broaddus, who each combine physical performance and digital tactics to interrogate the construction and performance of identity.