Living in Loops / Leben in Schleifen: Everyday fragments by Canadian artist Lorna Mills at Jenoptik high-rise building

Canadian artist Lorna Mills, a pioneer of net and media art, pursues a distinctive artistic approach by transforming everyday fragments from the vastness of the internet into new hierarchies of meaning. GIF animation loops are at the center of her creative process. GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is a file format of the early Internet that allows short motion sequences and, in order to save data, only stores the differences between the individual frames of a film. The artist manipulates this type of digital compression and uses it to generate artifacts that she transforms into her own visual language.

In animated loops, the artist manipulates and arranges these individual fragments into pulsating collages that defy conventional categorization. Her work testifies to the malleability of digital content and the unlimited possibilities that arise from its reinterpretation and recontextualization. In doing so, Lorna blurs the boundaries between high, pop, sub and counter culture. The results are complex yet playful works that are like fluid portraits of a global society struggling with constantly shifting perspectives and timelines. With her groundbreaking work, she invites viewers to question the digital age and offers a thought-provoking perspective on the intersection of technology, culture and human identity.

As part of the tangente digital art exhibition, two different loops will be projected onto the front and back of the Jenoptik high-rise building each weekday. A total of 14 works from her extensive oeuvre will be on display: Volare Oh Oh, Universal Iris, Cerebral Concrete, Frank's Stylist is Me, Procession to Calvary, Return of Mom, Tripmaster Flora, You Will Cry Devil, Dis moi tout, April Foolish, Love Sugar, Legendary Wave, Did We Winners Yet?, Troika.

About Lorna Mills

Lorna Mills has been exhibiting her work in solo and group exhibitions since the early 1990s. She works with Ilfochrome prints, paintings, Super 8 films and videos as well as online animated GIFs, which she integrates into offline installations. Past exhibitions include "Dreamlands" at the Whitney Museum, New York, "Yellowwhirlaway" at the Museum of the Moving Image, New York, "The Great Code" at the Transfer Gallery, New York and currently "Sea Change" at the Pérez Art Museum, Miami.

Her GIF collages have recently been featured in "Vitamin C+: Collage in Contemporary Art" (PHAIDON), "Digital Art" by Christiane Paul (Thames & Hudson) and "On NFTs" (Taschen).

Lorna Mills lives and works in Toronto, Canada. She is represented by Transfer Gallery, New York and Miami, and DAM Gallery, Berlin.

The curator of tangente digital art I "Living in Loops" is Galerie Hubert & Treff, Jena; co-curator is Robert Seidel, Berlin.

About the exhibition

• tangente digital art: Lorna Mills l Living in Loops
• March 11 to 24, 2024 each day at 7:00 / 7:30 / 8:00 / 8:30 / 9:00 / 9:30 / 10:00 p.m.
• More information about the exhibition on the Jenoptik website under Events and from March 11 in the foyer of the Ernst Abbe Tower.
• More information about Lorna Mills: https://www.instagram.com/lorna.mills/, https://twitter.com/lm_netwebs, https://warpcast.com/lornamills
• Images can be found in the Jenoptik image database under "Events" or via this direct link.
  Further images and short video sequences will be added after the start of the exhibition.
• You can learn more about video mapping technology in our blog article: Videomapping for "More Light" in the city of light Jena.

In addition to the artist, we would also like to thank our partners, who accompany and support the further development of our art engagement: JenaKultur, Galerie Huber & Treff and Robert Seidel for curating our exhibitions and the Laser Event Company for maintaining the video mapping system.

About Jenoptik

Optical technologies form the basis of our business. Jenoptik is a global photonics group and comprises the two divisions Advanced Photonic Solutions and Smart Mobility Solutions. Non-photonic activities, particularly for the automotive market, are operated as independent brands within the Non-Photonic Portfolio Companies. Our key markets primarily include semiconductor & electronics, life science & medical technology as well as smart mobility. Approximately 4,600 people worldwide work for the Jenoptik Group, which is headquartered in Jena (Germany). In fiscal year 2023, Jenoptik generated revenue of approx. 1.07 billion euros, based on preliminary figures.