“There is another world, but it is in this one,” said Surrealist poet Paul Éluard. In this exhibition, artists look to the future, imagining how we move forward from the tumultuous events of the past year. [read more]
Art in the Plague Year is an online exhibition organized by UCR ARTS: California Museum of Photography and curated by Douglas McCulloh, Nikolay Maslov, and Rita Sobreiro Souther. UCR ARTS’s programs are supported by UCR College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, the City of Riverside, Altura Credit Union, and Anheuser-Busch.
All works in this exhibition are reproduced with permission of the artists/copyright holders. Works (images, video, audio or other content) must not be used or reproduced for any purposes other than fair use without prior consent of the artists.
(b. 1952, New York, NY. Lives and works in Cambridge, MA)
Nocturnal by Nature
Karl Baden has an unusual reason to make night pictures—he has a condition known as “delayed sleep phase syndrome.” His body clock—which controls the daily sleep/wake cycle—is set opposite of most humans. Under normal circumstances and with some effort, Baden can wrench himself into a daytime schedule. “But in the months since the pandemic forced most of us to retreat inside our homes, I have essentially reverted to my naturally nocturnal self, staying up most of the night, and sleeping most of the day.” During the pandemic, therefore, he has walked at night, carrying a low-light camera while he does. He watches for “signs of life in a community of social creatures who’ve been forced to avoid others.” The images are both eerie and commonplace. They are not posed but caught in the moment. They are not prurient but somehow deeply intimate.
