100,000 Lines
Hermann Zschiegner
July 9th – August 6th, 2020
dieFirma NYC
dieFirma announces 100,000 Lines, a public exhibition viewable from the street featuring work by Hermann Zschiegner, curated by Victor Sira.
The COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing. Even as New York begins to “re-open,” cases across the country rise and we still mourn those who are lost. While we still cannot convene safely indoors, dieFirma holds onto the belief that art remains valuable, and will be converting our window in Cooper Square into a display for viewing art outdoors.
The deaths across the country and world affect us all but are at a scale that is hard to conceive. In response, Zschiegner decided to create a project at once abstract and literal. By taking the now-famous May 24th New York Times frontpage, featuring 1,000 mini-obituaries, then 10% of the 100,000 who had died in the U.S., Zschiegner used data visualization to intervene on the black-and-white paper.
Using a custom algorithm, Zschiegner used a pen plotter—a kind of computer-operated drawing device—to create an abstract form of 100,000 lines in order to attempt to visualize the enormity of the loss, as well as our inability to comprehend it.
Every Thursday from 8:30pm – 9:30pm, July 9th – August 6th, a projection of Zschiegner’s work will be displayed in the window. A limited run of a reproduction of 100,000 Lines will be available for free from dieFirma.
100,000 Lines: Process
Hermann Zschiegner is a New York–based artist, designer, and principal of 2n, a data visualization agency. He has collaborated on Various Small Books (MIT Press) and is a member of the ABC Artists’ Books Collective. His work has been exhibited at Printed Matter (New York), the Cleveland Museum of Art, Rencontres d’Arles, FoMu (Antwerp), and the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica (Barcelona).
100,000 Lines Reproduction
A limited run of a reproduction of 100,000 Lines published by dieFirma.
