Review: Restless Devices" at Beep Beep Gallery"

We live in alarmingly lonely times. The modern lifestyle of convenience and the accompanying technological accoutrement effectively do more to separate us than to keep us together. The highly-wired age of "constant contact" has resulted in our present plugged in, face down culture; our fingers touch more keyboards than skin. At the same, making and maintaining connections with no regard for time or space allows for personal relationship to exist where they previously wouldn't have been able to. As we settle out of the newness of technological integration in social interactions, we are left deciphering the repercussions begotten by all this—are we more united or are we forgetting the basics of human exchange in favor of a solitary relationship with our phone or computer screen?

From the get-go, let's not pretend we're turning over new stones here. By now, this information is not revelatory—we know what kind of mess we've potentially gotten into. We spend more time watching digital news feeds of our friends' live than we spend being with our friends. The digital communication boom is the new proliferation of cigarette smoking; by the time the carcinogenic nature of our new favorite habit came to light, we were already addicted.

In Restless Devices at Beep Beep Gallery, Joe Tsambiras and Jason R. Butcher present a view of where we are in our relationships with each other, ourselves and technology...and where we might be leading ourselves if we stay the course.