The Longwood Center for Visual Arts was filled to the brim on Friday night with folks of all ages coming to check out the newest exhibit “Artificial/Life.” The dual exhibit is comprised of the work of three artists, all of which used their pieces to ask questions about genuine human experience in the age of rapidly advancing technology.
As you entered the building, there was a large screen to your left, which showed a computer-generated road-trip, using images from Google street view. The piece that is somewhat haunting in its use of solely virtual reality. The artist, Hans Gindlesberger, began the project when he was adjusting to life without a rigorous commute. “This piece I made, right after I arrived in Wisconsin and the year before that, I taught at Marshall University, in West Virginia, and my family stayed in Buffalo,” said Gindlesberger. “So every week I would drive back and forth and commute for my teaching job, which was four hundred and eighty miles, about an eight hour drive that I would do twice a week, so a lot of driving. After my family moved and I was able to stop making that commute I sort of missed the activity of driving and exploring these different places and I thought maybe I could do this virtually.”
Gindlesberger began making his virtual trek by clicking on different points on the map. He ended up traveling the country that way, from Philadelphia, to the coast of California. Even with the advanced technology we have access to, the virtual experience could not match the real thing. “ It’s like the mythological American journey westward, but it’s kind of an empty passage through the landscape,” said Gindlesberger.
Jon Horvath’s contribution to the exhibit combines a famous piece of literature and contemporary art. Horvath used Wisconsin’s uniquely named back roads to spell out famous quotes from Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road,” using the GPS mapping of his journeys to create fascinating pieces of contemporary art.
“For me, my work directly responds to a literary influence. Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road,” and I have a bit of a unique familiarity with Wisconsin’s back roads,” said Horvath. “I always thought it would be interesting if a person tried to navigate the roads in some kind of textual way and I just needed to find the right text to pair with it and “On The Road” just seemed like a natural fit. “
Horvath and Gindlesberger’s collaborative piece featured images from famous films mingling with reproduced virtual images of the same locations. “The collaborative work is all about the shared experiences of these images,” said Gindlesberger. Films that are used in the pieces rage from “Lost in Translation” to “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.” However as different as they may seem, there is a common thread, which was a criteria for the artist when choosing which films he would include. “Reality failing around you,” said Horvath, “or the suspicion that maybe things aren’t real, even though they present themselves as real.”
The second portion of the exhibit was a stunning, crowd-sourced piece of digital art, which was originally started by artist Scott Draves. Another piece inspired by literature, “Electric Sheep” is titled after Philip K. Dick’s novel with the same name. At first glance this work may seem like some sort of light show; however, it is actually a sort of living piece of art, which evokes a powerful response in those who view it. This exhibit has been evolving and changing since 1999. No viewer of this display of organic life will ever see the same thing twice, as it is constantly being manipulated.
The two exhibits, which were created so far apart from each other, manage to pair beautifully and allow visitors to be immersed in the questions that define our modern society. This accessible exhibit is meant for more then just those with art expertise. “Even though it’s new technology, and a lot of contemporary art, you can enter in to the show from a lot of perspectives, backgrounds, and areas of study,” said Horvath.
You can visit the Longwood Center for Visual Arts through March 28, for a chance to experience “Artificial/Life.”
