Covid 19:Cognitive Dissonance
Cecilia Suhr
This video art explores how covid 19 has allowed an individual to experience “cognitive dissonance” during the lockdown period. As the mainstream media narratives conflict with the alternative and independent media sources, a woman willfully undergoes painful and inner quests for "truth" which later turns into a pivotal transformative and awakening moment for other revelations. The sonic expression and visual representation capture the dissonance, angst and confusion which eventually lead to peace and resolution.
About the Artist
Cecilia Suhr is an award winning interdisciplinary artist and researcher, multi-instrumentalist (violin/cello/voice/piano), multimedia composer, author, and improviser, who is working at the intersection between art, music, sound design, and digital technology.
Her work has been exhibited and performed in various galleries, festivals, biennials, conferences and museums nationally and internationally in venues such as Palace of Congresses and Exhibitions Nice Acropolis, (Nice, France), Altice Forum Braga (Braga, Portugal), Djanogly Recital Hall, University of Notthingham, (Notthingham UK), CICA Museum, (Gimpo, Korea), IANG Gallery, NamSeoul University, Seoul, Korea, Pylaia- Hortiati Municipal Conservatory, Thessaloniki, Greece, Center for Collaborative Arts and Media at Yale University, Pensacola Museum of Art, West Florida, Outside the Box 4, A Biennial of Outdoor Site-Specific Arts and Performance at Whitespace, West Palm Beach, Kimmel Gallery at New York University, (NY, NY), Venice Art House, (Venice Italy), NIW Gallery, (Tokyo, Japan), House Museum of Marina Tsvetaeva, Moscow Russia, Hill Center Galleries, Washington, D.C., Scholes Street Studio, (Brooklyn, NY), etc.
Her awards includes: Honorable Mention in Mixed Media Category from New York City International Fine Art Contest held by Gateway Art Center NYC (2017), People’s Choice Award, Juried Exhibition, Pop Revolution Gallery, Mason, OH (2015), Saint Michael Special Achievement Medal, An International Juried Fine Arts Exhibition (2013), Special Recognition Award from International Abstracts Art Competition, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery (2012). She is also a recipient of MacArthur Foundation, Digital Media and Learning Research Award (2012).
As a researcher, she is an author of Social Media and Music: The Digital Field of Cultural Production (2012, Peter Lang Press) and Evaluation and Credentialing in Digital Music Communities (MIT Press, 2014). She also served as an editor and contributing author to Online Evaluation of Creative Arts (Routledge Press, 2014). Her articles have appeared in journals such as Critical Arts, New Media and Society, International Journal of the Humanities, International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, Rhizomes: Cultural Studies in Emerging Knowledge, etc.
She holds a M.A. from New York University in Media Ecology, and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University in Media Studies. She is currently an Associate Professor of Humanities and Creative Arts as well as an Affiliate Professor of Art at Miami University, Ohio.