Daniel Keller
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The term ‘post-internet art’ is in a sense a misnomer, for it is only in the last few years that the internet has developed to an extent that it affects every aspect of our lives at a blindingly accelerating pace. But we now have a generation of artists who have been plugged into the internet for as long as they can remember and thus the boundaries between the digital realm and IRL (in real life) are becoming increasingly blurred.
Berlin-based American Daniel Keller (b. 1986) is an artist who perfectly represents this generation, and his work has been gaining increasing prominence across German speaking Europe, though remains almost unknown in the UK.
Central to his work is the concept of the ‘prosumer’, a term coined by Alvin Toffler in the 1970s for a person who produces many of their own goods and services, often enabled through the advance of technology and education.
Keller’s mixed-media installations use found materials including concrete, resin, stone and wood, which complicate the concept of user and consumer. On this he layers sound, light and digital media, all of which bleeds out of the physical space and asks the audience to rationally question the synthesis of organic materials into the technological.
Keller has taken part in a number of group shows that address the concept of post-internet art, including Speculations on Anonymous Materials at the Fridericianum in Kassel in 2013; The Future of Memory at the Kunsthalle Wien; Open Source: Art at the Eclipse of Capitalism, at the Galerie Max Hetzer in Berlin and a solo exhibition, Kai ❤ Dalston Bushwick at Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler in Berlin. In 2013 he co-organised TEDxVaduz with Simon Denny, held at the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein.
He is also known for founding artist collective AIDS-3D with Nik Kosmas, creating work that merges artistic practise, technology and social activism to comment on contemporary culture and ecological issues.
From 16 January his work will be on show at Chewday’s in Lambeth as part of CONDO, an exchange between 24 UK and international galleries in spaces across London. www.condocomplex.org