tanya gayer
class of 2016
about
Tanya Gayer is a curator and writer based in Oakland, CA. Her curatorial projects and research examine history-making processes embedded in archives, databases, governmental assimilation efforts, and algorithmic categorizations. She studies the records and stories involved with these institutions to realize the impact they have in forming identity and culture. Gayer received her dual masters degree in Curatorial Practice and Visual + Critical Studies from California College of the Arts and her BFA from University of Nevada, Reno.
Her curatorial projects have been exhibited at Root Division; Hubbell Street Galleries; Sonoma Valley Museum of Art; The Internet Archive; Gray Area; CTRL + SHFT; Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts; Pro Arts Gallery; Hayes Valley Art Works; Embark Gallery; Some Thing Spacious; and Adobe Books Backroom Gallery. She has been in residence at Wassaic Project; Picture Berlin; and Signal Culture. Her writing has been published in Daily Serving, in exhibition catalogs associated with CULT Exhibitions; Holland Project; Pro Arts; Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts; and co-produced a one-off audio podcast for a Living Room Light Exchange publication. Gayer has lectured at UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, California College of the Arts, and at the CODAME Art + Tech Festival #ARTOBOT. She is currently the Exhibition Coordinator at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
tanya’s thesis
ARCHIVES AND ALGORITHMS: COMPRESSING SOCIOHISTORICAL DISTANCE
In the early 2000s mobile applications began organizing user data similar to archives of the early 1900s. If there is a correlation between these categorical methods, what does this mean for identity and culture that is constructed through these digital platforms? In a compression of theoretical distance between Archive theory and Media Studies, the mobile app Timehop will be analyzed within this thesis to uncover its relationship to preservation tactics associated with archives. My theoretical framework negotiates software development and algorithmic design to question systems of categorization that write our histories for us, and thus our beliefs, customs, and values. By analyzing these systems and their intentions, this thesis advocates for the individual to take part in digital processes to generate information that is more personalized and representative of the self.