Adrian Stein “Quantum Mirror” on view at ArtSpace8 in Chicago

By Chadd ScottFebruary 25, 20210 Comments

Chicago-based new media artist Adrian Stein, a Guatemalan native who migrated to the U.S. to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, will debut his first art installation titled “Quantum Mirror” at contemporary fine art gallery ArtSpace8, located on Michigan Avenue.

Adrian Stein “Quantum Mirror”

In the digital age of “information wars,” the installation invites viewers to reflect on the fracture of identity through their portrayed social media personas. Adrian Stein “Quantum Mirror” will be free and open to the public.

Known for his eccentric and nihilistic themes, Adrian Stein “Quantum Mirror” takes the viewer through a journey of self-awareness, exploring how different states of consciousness can create alternate means of self-perception. Incorporating floating holographic human figures, resonant frequencies and sounds of the body, the visitor’s reflection in the engulfing mirrored walls are juxtaposed by Stein’s animations, asking the viewer to reflect on the created hybrid persona that simultaneously exists both virtually and physically. Through this fractalized expression of the self, the work reveals the vast intersectionality of identity and self-perception, unveiling the infinity that lies within the modern body.

“In the wake of a fresh new year, I hope this timely installation brings light to the ways that social media affects our sense of self,” said Stein. “As a Guatemalan native living in America, this piece encompasses my experiences and analysis of a fractured identity, informed by an array of cultures within my single body .”

The installation is viewable on the third floor of ArtSpace 8, Monday through Saturday 10 am -7 pm, Sundays 12 -6 pm. Tickets are not required. The exhibition will be on view through April with an expected extention into May.

More of Stein’s artwork can be viewed on Instagram @Looneystein.

ABOUT ADRIAN STEIN

Chicago-based new media artist Adrian Stein seeks to understand how humans view themselves through the many mirrors viewed in everyday life which reveal the borders, glass walls, and masks we have built between ourselves and each other in the process. Stein’s work engages the concept that different states of consciousness may give rise to different views of the self, and how perceived identities can create a hybrid person, existing virtually and physically.

Having been raised in Guatemala to attend school in America, Stein has inhabited the space between political and cultural borders, living in a state of transition. This life was punctuated by growing up in an age where the border between countries was bridged by the internet, thus marking the importance of such borders and their digital crossings as not only institutional, but as a deeply formative concept in his work.