ART 350-Lectures/Exhibition Reviews

Barbara London Lecture Review

Bill Viola, Barbara London, and
Joel Bachar

Barbara London is the Video and Media Curator at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. She visited the University of Nevada, Reno April 28 as a guest curator for the annual student art show. Prior to the opening of the student art show, she gave a brief lecture at the university. In her lecture she discussed many of the artists she had the opportunity to work with at MoMa, as well as showcase her most recent work, “Looking at Music, 3.0.” London’s lecture consisted mostly of talking about and displaying works of artists she had worked with as curator at MoMa. She initially talked about Nam Jun Paik, an artist I have become familiar with over the past few years as a digital media student, and how he pushed the envelope with his use of televisions and creating essentially the first form of a short music video in “Beatles Electroniques.” She explained that Paik was often trying to comment on television as information and how culture interacts with it. After several more presentations of artists she had worked with, London went on to show her work currently on display at MoMa. “Looking at Music, 3.0” surveys the diverse world of ‘80s and ‘90s appropriation, exploring the influence of music and remixing culture on visual arts of the era. In an article in the New York Press, London said, "As a curator of time-based media I have followed how visual artists work between disciplines and often collaborate with musicians or have done music themselves." The most memorable thing that London said during the lecture was that all art takes is a good idea. I understand what she meant when she said this; however, I respectfully disagree with this statement. I think it takes more than just a good idea. I believe it takes a good idea as well as a conceptually genuine way to express that good idea. If one cannot express their good idea in manner that truly represents that idea, then the idea may be lost in translation.

QUESTIONS:
What drove you to become a curator and did you always imagine you's be one for MoMa?
Which artist that have worked with has had the most influence on you and why?

Poster for "Looking at Music 3.0"

Pete Froslie Lecture Review

Pete Froslie

Pete Froslie, "Augmented Reality John
Wilkes Booth"

Pete Froslie visited the University of Nevada, Reno for a visiting lecture in late March. Froslie is an electronic artist and an alumnus of the University of Nevada.  His early work focused on automating many objects from his childhood and looking at their surfaces and infrastructures for ways to communicate his conceptual ideas.  Continuing with his idea of automating things, Froslie automated a group of small toy cows by connecting their circuits to a decomposing beef heart. As the heart decomposed over time, chemical reactions would cause the toys to move and moo.  Froslie described his cow heart work and works previous to that as “illusions of life through technological means.” I found this description of his work accurate and very interesting. The concept of portraying organic, natural things by the means of automated, technological objects is an interesting idea to me because they are so much different. Froslie’s most recent, ongoing project incorporates several different forms of media as well as painting, drawing, and sculpture. Froslie has created a John Wilkes Booth avatar and has been trying to use fandom to start automating this virtual counter image of President Abraham Lincoln. Froslie has created an ongoing novel to serve as the story behind the virtual Booth’s adventures. I enjoy that Froslie has linked different aspects of his virtual Booth story though several different forms, book, video, comic, games, website, painting, sculpture, etc. All in all, I found Froslie’s lecture very entertaining and insightful. I gained some insight into the somewhat fanatical, yet engaging mind of an electronic artist who was at one point in the same place that I am now. His lecture inspired me to try new things as well as showed me that not everything we do as artists has to be purely concept, but that we can have crazy ideas and just run with them.

QUESTIONS:
When creating this ongoing story of your virtual John Wilkes Booth, do you incorporate any real life events, either of yours or the real Booth?
Which form of media do you prefer working with when creating these stories and why?

Pete Froslie, "Toy Cows Controlled with Beef Heart"

Leo Villareal Exhibition Review

Leo Villareal, "Amanecer"

I have visited Leo Villareal’s exhibition “Animating Light” on display at The Nevada Museum of Art twice now, and can truly say it is one of the most stimulating and inspiring exhibits I have ever visited. I must admit, that I have a predisposition to love light shows and works of the like ever since attending my first electronic music concert and witnessing the amazing light shows that accompany the music. That being said, Villareal’s exhibition is somewhat different from the intense lightshows that often accompany electronic music. Villareal has taken light and uses it in a much more calming, tranquil way. Few of his works incorporate quick, flashing lights that could understandably cause seizures. Villareal seems to work more with deliberately passive changing light. What is amazing to me is how light can so evoke such strong emotion from a viewer. For instance, Villareal’s piece “Diamond Sea,” made with white LEDs, custom software, and mixed media, is a little faster paced in its changing LEDs and created an anxious, energized feeling. In comparison, his piece “Amanecer,” made with LEDs, custom software, diffusion material, wood, electrical wiring, and hardware, has a slower, soothing change in colors that was peaceful and serene.  My personal favorite piece in the show was “Big Bang,” made with LEDs, aluminum, custom software, and electrical software. I found myself, both times I visited the exhibition, being able to sit and watch this piece for such long periods of time that everything else just seemed unimportant. The swirling colors, and constantly changing shapes within the swirls caught and held my attention. I kept trying to find a pattern, but found that I never could, that it was always different. Villareal’s “Animating Light” was a real eye-opener for me and has truly inspired me to want to create light pieces that evoke such emotion like his did for me.

QUESTIONS:
What is your biggest form of inspiration when creating these light pieces?
What would you like viewers to take away from your light pieces when they view them? Are they similar or would you like each one to speak something different?

Leo Villareal, "Diamond Sea"

Leo Villareal, "Diamond Sea"

Leo Villareal, "Big Bang"