“Julia Scher: American Promises”

Three decades ago, long before the Internet loomed as a threat to people’s privacy, Julia Scher explored the ever-increasing encroachment of CCTV and other means of surveillance on the public through multi-camera video installations that ensnared audiences in a feedback loop of scrutiny. Forcing viewers into a performative role they weren’t even aware of, Scher essentially undertook a feminist deconstruction of the sort of videos that typified the late-’60s work of artists such as by Dan Graham and Bruce Nauman, countering their solipsism by connecting the controlling presence of the camera to that of the male gaze. This mini-survey of the artist’s presciently critical output represents her first solo exhibition in NYC in 15 years.