Artists in thematic section: micha cárdenas, Dynasty Handbag, Goldin+Senneby, David Maisel, Lynne Marsh, Charles O’Rear, Trevor Paglen, Amir Zaki, Selections from the CMP Technology Collection

California is one of the world’s most photographed and digitally rendered spaces, such that the boundaries between the physical world and the imaginary one are perpetually blurred. One consequence of this is an obscuring of the material, ecological, and symbolic violence that has accompanied technological and cultural developments. This interplay between California (and the US West more broadly) as a blissful nowhere and a site of real, often devastating transformations reflects the complex dynamics that continue to shape perceptions of place and space in the digital age. Artists featured in this section complicate the representation of seemingly natural ecologies by highlighting the ecological violence, utopian promise, and imminent dangers proliferated by digital technologies.