Care has become a commodity. Platforms engineer intimacy virtual pets, AI companions, gamified affection converting emotion into data and attention into profit.
But some artists are building digital beings that refuse to be optimized. @boramurmure and @jonmonaghan ask what it would mean to care for something that resists capture altogether.
Interviews by @f.wvn
Edited by @jamisonkh4
Read the full zine at artdao.xyz or via link in bio
"Lush Pixels"
On view through April 17th
Memorial Gallery, Hale Hall
Farmingdale State College on Long Island
Curated by Beth Giacummo
Gallery is open Monday-Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm
A focused survey of my work from the past 11 years.
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"French Penguin", 2009
video (color, sound), media player, screen or projector, 2 min 35 sec
edition of 3, 1AP
One of my first 'cinematic' video installations made during my first year of grad school. 17 years ago, wow, I'm old.
This short 3D animation fuses Gothic architecture with an Emperor Penguin, creating a new absurd life form that is in a never-ending cycle of eating its own young. At the time, it was a breakthrough for me. Selected by @ryantrecartin for a group show at @voxpopuligallery and winner of the @wpadc Experimental Media Prize selected by Associate Curator Kelly Gordon, with a screening at the @hirshhorn , among numerous other international festivals and exhibitions.
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Happy to say The Checkpoint Wire (2014), ed 1 of 3, sold at the @wpadc 's Art Night 2K25 last week at @hickokcole in D.C. This event raised over $140k to support the Washington Project for the Arts.
This work is from a series of prints, sculptures, and animations I created in 2014 that directly reference a highly-detailed 16th-century monumental woodcut print of a triumphal arch, commissioned by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. It was one of the largest prints ever produced at the time (116 x 141 in) and was intended to be self-aggrandizing propaganda in public areas.
In my series, the triumphal arch features surveillance equipment, a Whole Foods, and clinical, bougie architectural aesthetics; a tongue-in-cheek mounment to the triumph of late stage capitalism.
Art Night 2K25 took place a day after President Trump unveiled models for a triumphal arch to be erected in Washington, D.C., a funny coincidence to have this work included. Other editions are still available until October 23rd, proceeds going to support the Washington Project for the Arts.
À voir | On view 👀 @jonmonaghan
A l’occasion de l’exposition 𝙓𝙑
Jonathan Monaghan, After Fabergé, 2014
After Fabergé est une série d’impressions qui synthétise l’expérience de consommation de masse liée à la technologie et aux objets de luxe. Mélangeant anatomie et design, ces compositions extrêmement détaillées évoquent des réalités alternatives, voire des obsessions fétichistes. Les œufs sont ornés d’orifices humains, de bouches d’évacuation industrielles, de plugs USB - et même d’un café Starbucks. Étincelants de détails décoratifs et se détachant sur un fond blanc immaculé, leur apparence évoque la fonctionnalité des produits commerciaux. Pourtant, ces oeufs ne répondent à aucune fonction, dotant ces objets virtuels d’un étrange et inquiétant pouvoir.
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On the occasion of the exhibition 𝙓𝙑
Jonathan Monaghan, After Fabergé, 2014
After Fabergé is a series of prints that synthesizes the mass consumer experience linked to technology and luxury items. Blending anatomy and design, these extremely detailed compositions evoke alternative realities, even fetishistic obsessions. The eggs are adorned with human orifices, industrial drain pipes, USB plugs—and even a Starbucks coffee. Sparkling with decorative details and standing out against a pristine white background, their appearance evokes the functionality of commercial products. Yet these eggs serve no purpose, endowing these virtual objects with a strange and disturbing power.
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Jonathan Monaghan
JT-O Interrogator Egg, After Fabergé (série), 2014
Impression jet d’encre sur papier photo brillant Hahnemühle monté sur Dibond
Inkjet print on Hahnemühle photo luster mounted on dibond
145 x 109,2 cm
57 x 43 inches
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Exposition collective / Group show
🗓️14/09 - 25/10/2025
avec / with
@paulinebastard@cecilebeau@jeromeboccia@alixboillot@nicolasmboulard@emiliebrout_maximemarion@jeanbaptistecaron@paolaciar@caroline_delieutraz@marcoemmy@ellande_jaureguiberry@claudia_larcher@jonmonaghan@liddy_scheffknecht@mayuratorii@komunuma
We’re excited to host a talk with Jonathan Monaghan on Sunday, October 19 at 1pm!
This is a unique chance to hear about his process and learn more about the site specific works he made for Rochester with bits of architecture from the Granite Building, The Powers Building and the HH Warner Building.
Jonathan Monaghan is a contemporary artist whose prints, sculptures, and immersive video installations weave together elements of ancient mythology, science fiction, and popular culture. His current exhibition at RoCo, “A Trace Left by the Future” explores the intersections of art history, power, and technology in the digital age in an imaginative and satirical critique that challenges viewers to examine their relationship with these forces.
@jonmonaghan@bleucease
We can’t wait to share our newest, temporary public art installation with you all!
Join us on First Friday, June 6 for the opening of “Late Capital Pods” by Jonathan Monaghan.
“Late Capital Pods” is a series of large-scale images by Jonathan Monaghan that continue his recent work and reference Rochester’s Gilded Age architecture.
Image is a detail of the larger 9 foot by 6 foot installation.
