Sub-Scribed Screening
On the 2024 Whitney Biennial Subscription Film Program and Nyala Moon’s Dilating for Maximum Results. The eighty-first installment of the longest running survey of American contemporary art. This year’s title is called Even Better Than The Real Thing, exploring themes of identity, autonomy and what qualifies as “real.”
Given the new environment of our post-pandemic society, many socially distant alterations to daily life have become a mainstay in the operative fashion. They have also bolstered the use of kitschy technological buzz words or some new version of AI that is more intuitive than the last. This year’s Whitney Biennial is no exception to the dragnet of “innovation” titled Even Better Than the Real Thing, on view from March 20 to August 11, 2024. This year’s claim to fame, surrounding ideas around the complications of AI, trifles with the discernment of what is real and perpetration of authenticity that makes marginalized voices potentially less than human. The curators, Chrissie Iles and Meg Onli, bring together artists that explore the mind, body, indigeneity, humor, and identity. If the works do not already make you question where exactly AI fits into these disjointed narratives, then you would be sure to question the museum’s partnership with the UK-based subscription platform, Mubi, to bring you the Biennial film program at the click of a button (of course after you enter your credit card details for your extended free trial).
Film still of Dilating for Maximum Results, 2023
I will be the first to plainly say that this decision seems hypocritical to Biennial’s chosen thematic. The Whitney is not the first museum to offer a selection of an exhibition’s works online; however, this partnership marks an interesting turn towards more ubiquitous formats to reach broader audiences. As one of the featured shorts included in this program is called, they seem to be “dilating for maximum results.” Nyala Moon’s Dilating for Maximum Results is one of films chosen for the program to be exclusively shown on the Mubi. While there will be single screenings of some of these exclusives, the primary opportunity to see these films will require signing up for a Mubi free trial (only if you reside in the US, Canada or UK). For Biennial ticket holders, this means a free 60 days as opposed to the default 7 day trial that Mubi offers.
If AI is the complication towards truth verdicts of realness, then how does a subscription platform further complicate the allowance of timed watching? It seems ironic that Even Better Than the Real Thing is translated into a home screening. While I acknowledge that for many this means the opportunity to watch at one's leisure––and this is an admirable pursuit––however, why must the seizure of our bank information be the entrance into this privileged viewing? Why do potential viewers that hail from outside the allowed three countries that may have visited the Whitney not have the opportunity to revel in the benefits of their ticket purchase? I simply think they could have done “even better.”
Film still of Dilating for Maximum Results, 2023
Dilating for Maximum Results centers on protagonist Dreya, a Black trans woman, as having everything figured out. She goes to her therapy sessions, chats with family, is productive at work, has an active sex life, and orders takeout–––all from within her home. She seems content with her interior life until her cellphone boyfriend asks to meet in person for the first time to which she divulges to her sister that she has not dilated in four years. She then consults Youtube personality, Keisha Simply, to give her instruction on how to successfully dilate. Confident, Dreya lays in bed ready to dilate but is instead met with trouble as it won’t stay in. As panic sets in, her date arrives, and she feels compelled to continue with the prospect of having sex until he reassures Dreya that they can just take it slow. Instead, they continue with their usual phone habits from separate rooms and enjoy the night.
This film is an interesting parallel to how most viewers will view it and goes to question of the increased self-sufficiency of interior life through technological mediation. It takes on internet aesthetics with a witty editing style to dilute the circumstances of her indoor isolation. As her painted chroma key green walls indicate, Dreya is able to create controlled environments that she feels comfortable existing in. Through the filters of technology, she can cope with the world without engaging with it directly, questioning the stability of directness and what counts as such in relation to internal and external functionality. Maybe AI was too strong an insinuation, but rather technology generally gets at what constitutes real when interactions with media are just as legitimate to “the real thing.”
So, while you will have minimal opportunity to view this short film in person, we all can become Dreya in our engagement and recognition of our indoor connected lives. Ultimately, the concern for these Mubi exclusives becomes an issue of sidelining work that is not uplifting marginalized voices and instead creating a different marginalization based on knowledge, country of residence, credit card possession and the hesitation that comes with potentially surrendering money. The roadblock created is exclusionary beyond all efforts for the show to push inclusion; marking an interesting precedent in the role of museums to cater to public audiences. While I highly recommend viewing the Mubi exclusives, I do not condone making virtual spaces exclusionary by way of credit information. In an ironic way, the artificial intelligence bolstered by the Biennale introduction complicates the heart of the show––human displays of varied definitions of realness and the self-determination of legitimacy.