Aliza Shvarts on the Traumatic Experience of Going Viral

Aliza Shvarts’s exhibition at Art in General in Brooklyn—which was scheduled to be on view through May 9—is titled “Purported.” This word, like “alleged” or “reputed,” is often used to subtly cast doubt on whether certain events took place, and many of the videos and installations in “Purported” are about the experience of not being believed. Shvarts, who recently received a PhD in performance studies from New York University, fir