Tag: media art

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Banned Books Exhibition

Two of my artworks were juried into the Banned Books Exhibition at The W Galleries in Columbus, Mississippi. The show is in Summer Hall on the campus of Mississippi University for Women, and it runs from September 23 – October 25, 2024.

If I Hate Fairyland, Feelings….Fruits Basket, Plural: Detail

If I Hate Fairyland, Feelings….Fruits Basket, Plural (2024) is a generative computer image plotter print that shows a speculative list of banned book titles generated from PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023).

YouTube player

Rated PG-13 For (2022) displays an ever changing list of reasons films were rated PG-13. The words slowly fade in and then dissipate even more slowly. The rating descriptions are pulled at random from a database that includes every PG-13 film released as of 2021.

September 23 – October 25, 2024
Banned Books Exhibition
The W Galleries
Summer Hall
Mississippi University for Women
Columbus MS

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Sleep Well, Bill Viola

I was saddened to hear that media artist Bill Viola died earlier this week.

One of the first pieces I saw of Viola’s has stuck with me. The Sleepers (1992) shows video of people sleeping. Simple enough, but the CRT monitors are on their backs in the bottoms of 55-gallon drums, submerged in water. The peaceful glow of the light from the barrels and the images of people sleeping, dreaming and breathing is contrasted by the ever present danger of electrocution and drowning. A baptism. A burial. A revelation of how separate our sleeping and waking lives really are. And a suggestion that waking up might not go as planned.

I appreciate the slow, contemplative pace of Viola’s work. His attention to sound is also notable. I wonder if–in a different universe–he might have become a sound artist with an eye for the visual rather than a media artist with an ear for sound.