Gabriel Abrantes at Gasworks
Content warning: Very brief references to eugenics, racism, child loss, miscarriage, and abortion Do short-form videos get a bad rap? I wouldn’t dare equate TikTok content to the work of Portuguese-American artist Gabriel Abrantes, but there are certainly similarities at play. The artist’s current solo show, Bardo Loops , is a curated selection of four video works, each under two and a half minutes long. Whether the platform of choice is TikTok, YouTube shorts or Instagram reels, the tried and tested effect for creators is essentially the same: hook in the first two to three seconds to keep the audience engaged, then keep the video length as close to the minute mark as possible, so as to be eligible for earnings from the platform. I don’t know what flavour of dystopia we would call the world where thousands, if not millions, of people are quitting their jobs to essentially be gig economy workers for Big Tech in the form of influencing, but here we are. Gabriel Abrantes, Bardo Loops , e...
