At first glance, the New Wight Gallery looks like it’s
closed or awaiting a broom and a mop. But pedestrians have been
poking their heads into the propped-open door to investigate the
sounds and lights echoing from the dark room.
Those emanations are part of the Design|Media Arts Undergraduate
Exhibition, on display now through Jan. 29.
The exhibition’s meaning or purpose does not present
itself immediately. Unlike most art exhibits in museums such as the
Hammer or the Getty, this student show has no overhead lighting. A
bench sits in front of an active movie screen; a giant board,
twitching with black, gray and white movement, rests on the floor;
two computer stations stand in the back; a dark screen with hyper,
yellow specks occupies a wall. The entire room demands your
attention.
The exhibition challenges the viewer to look past its surface
““ the art requires more than perfunctory glimpses. It forces
the spectator to interact with it. On the interactive kiosks (the
computer stations at the back), a wiggle of the mouse summons a bar
with several images. Click on one, and a student’s work fills
the screen. A trail of lines traces the path the viewer creates
with the mouse. The distinction between artist and spectator blurs:
The artist has programmed the piece, but it undergoes constant flux
because visitors can draw their own pictures using a mouse.
D|MA Associate Adjunct Professor Cameron McNall’s 160
Bricolage Electronique class created a series of videos in which
mechanical arms rotate in a taffy machine-like motion under
different guises: Two arms with shoes on the ends mimic walking,
and an arm that extends from a purse dangles a dollar bill and
pushes it through a mound of goo. Pieces from a broken mirror cover
a horizontally rotating rod and reflect light like a disco ball.
The videos, though seemingly simple, serve as meditations on
balance and motion. They teach the viewer to appreciate basic
physical laws.
The D|MA Undergraduate Exhibition prods at art’s
relationship with its spectator. The whole exhibit declares that
“looking” no longer suffices; art requires much more
engagement between the artist and the viewer. It deserves thought
and close examination.
-Kathleen Mitchell