On-the-spot artist statements at “Are We Content?”
Written by Hana Hyman
Photographs by Crosby Ignasher
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- iPads were mounted on the wall to display six different interactive boards.
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- There was a full house at the “Are We Content?” gallery opening.
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- Spectators gathered to see the “Are We Content?” gallery opening.
Friday saw the opening of “Are We Content?,” a student-organized “multimedia exhibition of digital life and the search for identity,” according to their website. The exhibition was located at Safe//Sound Gallery, where it displayed a showcase of work swirling in complexity with colorful lights, framed by a backdrop of synth-y beats. So, after all of their hard work, what did some of the artists have to say about their pieces? Better yet, what would they say given just two minutes to construct an artist statement?
“The structure itself references the idea of an idol … what the internet has become to many of its users. The projections represent the way people are perceived and how they perceive others through these antisocial, digital relationships.” – third-year motion media majors Morgan Murphy (left), from Austin, Texas, and Eddy Nieto (right), from Mexico City, Mexico.
“So this piece is titled ‘Echoes of Reality,’ which aims at physical reality to cyberspace translation. In this piece, we delve into the lag of reality into representations as well as the permanent echo of reality into cyberspace. After all, reality continues forward on a linear timeline, whereas actions on the internet ripple across time and space continually in a perpetual state of flux.” – third-year motion media major Mark McCallum from Louisville, Kentucky.
“#hashtag is a modular, interactive piece displayed in six iPads. Each iPad holds an exploration of the infamous hashtag. We took the hashtag out of its context to give the symbol new conceptual or formal meaning.” – second-year M.F.A. motion media majors Amanda Quist (left), from Mankato, Minnesota, and Danyi Wang (right), from Beijing, China.
“The exhibition is meant to allow artists to portray their perspective on how we as a generation are translating into digital culture. I feel that our involvement with technology on a daily basis shifts the way we perceive one another. This exhibition allows myself and other artists to describe our reactions to these shifts.” – exhibition coordinator and fifth-year graphic design and motion media double major Peter Clark from Greenville, North Carolina.
