Tonight's Last Thursday artwalk over on NE Alberta offers a handful of openings that sound worth the trek— Jill Bliss, Betsy Walton, and others at Together Gallery, Gary Wiseman at Little Field, Tabor Robak at Appendix Space, a group show called I Dream Animal at Alicia Blue Gallery, and another over at the Goodfoot with new work by Gabe Decker, J. Shea, Eyeone, Codak, and Racecar13— though my top pick of the night goes to Abraham Ingle's If A Tree Falls... at False Front, presenting (take it away press release!) "six all new Social and Studio practice projects that explore notions of presence in the age of 'always on.'"

Read on for details about Ingle's show at False Front.

Out of all the projects from If A Tree Falls..., I found the strongest connection to Ingle's theme ("presence in the age of 'always on'") in "Interruptions," a series of three short films. One shows a man and woman sitting on the MAX, the woman texting for the duration of the film. As the woman thumbs out messages on her phone, the messages are shown on the screen (followed by responses), overlapping until the frame is occupied almost entirely by muddy blocks of text. Another film shows the same couple meeting in a coffee shop— amounting to a montage of people interacting with technology rather than their physical environment— and in a sort of anti-climax, the couple's conversation is broken by a phone call and the woman leaves the table.

"Share" is an HTML-based form, asking a series of questions intended to explore "the value and limitations of public disclosure." The questions, at first glance seeming inconsequential and intentionally random— "How often do you masturbate?" or "What did you have for lunch?"— terminate with the thrice repeated, "How are you feeling?" When the question was first asked, I was inclined to answer "I'm feeling okay/bored." Though in the second and third go around, I became more and more inclined to consider how I was really feeling: "Maybe I'm actually a little hungry, and so-and-so didn't call me back, and that makes me feel bad..." When you apply this experience to our relationships with form-generated web content, Ingle's project seems to suggest that we disclose information based upon what we think other people want to hear (or what's easiest to say), rather than relating our truest thoughts and emotions.

Other pieces include a reworking of "The Portrait Booth Project"— a photo booth intended to "juxtapose states of hyper-awareness and obliviousness." Additionally, a photo slide show entitled "Wish You Were Here" will explore the billions of images on the web, questioning the ambiguity of digital ownership, as well as how we relate to that gray area. There will also be a sculptural installation ("exploring expectation, experience, and conceptions of authenticity"), and throughout the night the gallery will be on Chat Roulette, piped out to public masturbators across the world! Yay!

False Front is located at 4518 NE 32nd Ave, and If A Tree Falls... will be open tonight from 6 to 9:30 pm.

UPDATED Thursday August 19: Dustin Zemel collaborated with Ingle on "Interruptions," the series of three videos described above.