Lecture performance at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity
2019
Sick Speech is an installation, film and lecture performance examining the influence of social media and biased algorithms on mental health and mass violence. Taking up the posthumous position of Nasim Aghdam, former social media star later known as the YouTube shooter, I examine how YouTube’s biased algorithm impacted Aghdam and the greater YouTube community and the correlation between mass violence, isolation and the desire for fame. Oscillating between news media reporting, my own text, found imagery and staged photos, I reframe her story within the context of immigration trauma and misogyny, applying a feminist perspective to societal reactions towards her and her actions.





Photography by Jessica Wittman
Upcoming
Untitled Project at N Gallery, Athens.
The MAHA Pavilion Bangkok Biennial, Bangkok.
Recent
Sick Speech, my________space (2601 Pasadena Ave.), Los Angeles.
Sick Speech and It’s Kind of a Scary Feeling at the Arts, Culture and Digital Transformation Summit at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
Hook & Loop in collaboration with Cedric Tai at Mast on Fig, Los Angeles
And Laid Him On The Green, is a live performance created in collaboration with James Rushford for Gertrude Contemporary’s exhibition Octopus 19: Ventriloquy, curated by Joel Stern and presented by Liquid Architecture.
Untitled Project at N Gallery, Athens.
The MAHA Pavilion Bangkok Biennial, Bangkok.
Recent
Sick Speech, my________space (2601 Pasadena Ave.), Los Angeles.
Sick Speech and It’s Kind of a Scary Feeling at the Arts, Culture and Digital Transformation Summit at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
Hook & Loop in collaboration with Cedric Tai at Mast on Fig, Los Angeles
And Laid Him On The Green, is a live performance created in collaboration with James Rushford for Gertrude Contemporary’s exhibition Octopus 19: Ventriloquy, curated by Joel Stern and presented by Liquid Architecture.
Contact rachel.yezbick[@]gmail.com
Photography by: Cedric Tai, Hagen Betzwieser, Keelan O’Hehir, Jessica Wittman and Zach Korol-Gold
Copyright @2020. Rachel Yezbick. All rights reserved.