F(R)ICTION features the work of Kara Gut, Ann Hirsch, and Cole Lu, three artists who play with the boundary between reality and fiction. Re-appropriating a range of sources, from role-playing video games and folkloric fantasies to VH1 dating shows and Disney romances, the works humorously reconstruct the cultural and moral codes that are propagated by predigested conceptions of reality. These artists thus create their own satirical fictions that expose and complicate the hidden systems of control that are perpetuated within mass media.

KARA GUT is a multidisciplinary artist whose work investigates the new shape of human intimacy formed by internet lifestyle, constructed detachment from reality, and the power dynamics of the virtual. Her solo shows include The Muted Horn Gallery (Cleveland), IRL Gallery (Cincinnati), and Open Space (Baltimore). Online exhibitions include out_of_body, a group show by Drive-Thru curatorial collective, and inclusion in The Wrong New Digital Art Biennial. Kara currently lives and works in Columbus, Ohio.

ANN HIRSCH is a video and performance artist who examines the influence of technology on popular culture and gender. Her immersive research has included becoming a YouTube “cewebrity” with over two million video views and an appearance as a contestant on Frank the Entertainer…In a Basement Affair on Vh1. She was awarded a Rhizome commission for her two-person play Playground which debuted at the New Museum. Recent solo shows include MIT List Visual Arts Center, Steve Turner (Los Angeles), and the New Museum’s online project space First Look.

COLE LU is an artist, curator, and writer based in New York. Through a multimedia practice, Lu explores the complexities of fragmented identities, miscommunications, and unauthenticated narratives. Lu’s work has been exhibited at the Contemporary Art Museum (St. Louis), the Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia), Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (Los Angeles), the New Digital Art Biennale (Basel), and American Medium (New York). The artist’s publication Smells Like Content (Endless Editions) is in the artists’ book collection of the MoMA Library.

For more information, visit the OSU Task of The Curator Website.