E-mail
Print
ACT on your curiosity
ACT/REACT exhibit reinterprets traditional art
By Christy Brownfield
“[The] operative word for this exhibit is ‘explore.’ Bring your intuitive of how to move through space.” - Guest Curator George Fifield
Under the directive “ACT on your curiosity,” the Milwaukee Art Museum’s latest exhibit, ACT/REACT, is the perfect melding of art, technology and interaction. Not done in a childlike manner, such as the inference of “audience interaction,” the installments will delight visitors of any age.
MAM, which started collecting new media pieces in 1967, continues to be a leader in North American media art. John McKinnon, curatorial assistant of modern and contemporary art, explains that the ACT/REACT exhibit is timely because it brings to the foreground technologies that respond to our actions. How often do we stop and think about interactive technologies, such as automatic doors that respond to movement? This concept, applied to art, explores the boundaries of interactive technologies without the use of devices like keyboards to initiate interaction.
Guest curator George Fifield helped to develop the space-by-space experience, saying the “operative word for this exhibit is ‘explore.’ Bring your intuitive of how to move through space. There is no technology knowledge required; it’s about magic and metaphor.” Both McKinnon and Fifield sought out artists at the forefront of interactive technological art to contribute to the exhibit.
Brian Knep, two-time Academy Award winner (one for his work on Jurassic Park), unveils his piece Healing Pool, which makes its world premiere at ACT/REACT. He says the interactive floor encourages people to “cross the line of being an audience to a performer.” The floor is a sensory experience in color alone. Neon yellow and orange forms reconfigure based on the footsteps of the guest, having an infrared or psychedelic effect.
Another piece, To Touch, is a table which responds to gentle strokes, and emits various sound clips taken from the internet, movies, and self recorded by the artist herself, Janet Cardiff. The brilliance of this piece is that the table, in appearance, resembles nothing more than an average wooden kitchen table. Set under spot light in an otherwise black room, Fifield’s words “magic and metaphor” seem embodied when the table begins to speak.
In an all together haunting experience, Daniel Rozin’s Snow Mirror creates the image of visitors in a snow-like illusion. Completely devoid of sound and encased in darkness, making the technology behind the piece even more invisible, the likeness of visitors is transformed into white particles, which are swept away with any sort of movement.
The entire exhibit seems like an enhanced playground, where movement begets artistic flourish. And each piece, while based on the principles of advanced media art and technology, is able to reflect the artist’s personality and represents wholly their perspective and message. With each piece, however, the guest is expected to take a certain amount of responsibility in the outcome of his or her experience. If you simply stand on Knep’s floor, the innovation does not become clear, you must walk, jump and turn all around; in essence, have fun with the art.
> Comments