Do find yourself looking up “how to” videos on YouTube? Are you trying to master tai chi or learn to tap dance? Like a YouTube tutorial, Michael Itkoff’s How To series can teach you just about anything.

Michael creates short how–to gifs of popular, step-by-step, illustrated instructions teaching you how to accomplish a handful of skills. Stop by CEG to learn how to master karate and properly do aerobics. Seven of Michael’s How To videos will be on view through April 4th in our current exhibition, Identify.

How To

For the series of ‘How To’ video pieces I have sourced instructional booklets from the early-to-mid 20th century including books on Karate, Yoga, Aerobics and other physical activities. These texts are rooted in the Western ideal of bodily perfection and culminate within late-capitalism where individuals can fine-tune their abilities, and thereby their identities, via easily consumable books or YouTube videos. The short GIF-like loops that comprise ‘How To’ are made by scanning, editing and sequencing the crude black and white photographs that illustrate the books and the resulting videos are exhibited on custom-built display units.

-Michael Itkoff