Ilana Harris-Babou -- Test Tile 1

Ilana Harris-Babou
Test Tile 1, 2024
Ceramic, cement, grout, glass tile, aluminum frame
6 x 6 in.

Test Tile 1 is a small ceramic wall relief that draws on the inherent tension between the sleek design of Instagram-worthy spaces and the realities of our bodies. Riffing on bathroom design trends, Harris-Babou composes framed mosaics embedded with glazed ceramic objects impressed with the ubiquitous swipe gesture used to operate digital touchscreens. By objectifying the gesture we use to navigate interfaces between the physical and virtual world, Test Tile 1 illuminates the etymological roots of the word ‘digital,’ questioning what world, exactly, is at our fingertips.

Ilana Harris-Babou’s work has been exhibited throughout the US and Europe. She is Assistant Professor of Art at Wesleyan University. Recent exhibitions include Touch Detection at Dreamsong, Golden Thread at the Crisp-Ellert Art Museum, Needy Machines at Candice Madey and Under My Feet at Storefront for Art and Architecture. In May 2023, Harris-Babou's video installation Liquid Gold took over the screens of Times Square for the Midnight Moment program. She has been included in the Istanbul Design Biennial (2020) and The Whitney Biennial (2019). Harris-Babou’s work is represented in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Wellcome Collection (London), and Electronic Arts Intermix. Her exhibitions have been reviewed in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Artforum, e-flux, Sculpture Magazine, and Art in America, among others.