Have You Hung with Chase Jarvis Yet?

What does it mean to “be present?” How do you visually represent “living in the moment?” And how is your interpretation of “being there” different from mine and everyone else’s? How is it the same? These are the fundamental questions about life that Chase Jarvis has me pondering with his groundbreaking work of social art celebrating the snapshot, entitled: Dasein - An Invitation to Hang.

Chase has invited all of us to submit snapshots of our own lives to this interactive, month-long art installation at the Ace Hotel New York via the Dasein website. As I peruse the images from photographers around the world, I am reminded that these moments in time may seem ordinary, and yet that is precisely why they unite us all as human beings. Some snapshots elicit a smile; some make me laugh out loud. Some take me down my own memory lane or simply inspire me with curiosity and emotion.

Here’s the really cool thing that makes this project ALIVE - every day since the project began on May 11th, Chase has selected more than one hundred snapshots submitted to the site to print and physically hang in the Dasein installation at the Ace Hotel. Every day the exhibit is renewed, kinda like we are waking up every morning.

Dasein runs until June 9th, which means you have one more week to submit your images and hang with Chase (and the rest of the world).

Quite a place “to be,” don’t you think?

-Kenna Klosterman