un/mute Contemporary Art Exhibition by Scout Daugherty Photos by Scout Daugherty
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n innovative art exhibition, Un/mute provides a way in which artists could stay connected to their work while also communicating with other artists in a time of isolation and uncertainty. Amid COVID-19, many artists found themselves out of work and disconnected from the art world, but un/ mute combatted this isolation by creating a project unlike any other of its time. Un/ mute paired twenty-eight artists with one another, connecting one artist from New York to one from Europe. The two artists were strangers to one another and
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worked together over ten weeks to create an art piece together, although thousands of miles apart. Un/mute’s innovation stems from its emphasis on the creative process. Every zoom meeting between the artists can be found on the un/ mute website and viewers can follow as the project develops from the moment the artists meet to the moment they finish their project. The un/mute website includes every ounce of content created by the artists over these ten weeks, and all of this remains available to the public. The artists used any form of art including podcasts, visual media, mu-
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sic scores, and anything else they wished. There were no limits to their creations despite their inability to work in person. In 2020, shortly after the beginning of the pandemic, the first project named after New York zip code “10001” came to fruition. The project’s unexpected popularity allowed for a second exhibition titled “10002” which supported further connection and creation between artists from different countries and backgrounds. Two locations in New York City act as the physical manifestations of these works. At the Austrian Cultural Forum
