"On the Scene" at the Art Institute

Located in the AIC's shnazzy new modern wing, "On the Scene" is a photography-based exhibition including work by Jason Lazarus, Wolfgang Plöger, and, my hometown favorite, Zoe Strauss. As much as I wanted Zoe to blow the rest out of the water (funny pun considering the focal point of her work--see below), I have to say Lazarus' collection of found snapshots stole the show. Lazarus conceals all visual content, displaying the backs of photographs to reveal handwritten captions and descriptions scrawled by the anonymous owners of each photo. The result is a kind of reverse picture book; snippets of text describe the images that are frustratingly present yet unavailable to the viewer, who is left to conjure the image on his or her own. In addition to the evident text, residue from adhesives and scrapbooks litter the photos' backs, making each a formal, compositional exploration.

Meanwhile, Strauss' piece exhibits the raw, confrontational, unapologetic quality that makes her work so compelling. Well known in Philly, her work is an exercise in visual, urban ethnography, as she immerses herself in her surroundings, engaging with and showing great compassion to her subjects. Strauss has a strong formalist sensibility defined by careful compositions and confrontational, unforgiving portraits of anonymous people. I first encountered her work in one of her annual installations under I-95 in Philadelphia, in which her photographs were mounted directly onto the beams holding up the highway. At the end of the exhibition, viewers were invited to remove the images from the wall to keep. As a result, I am the owner of two stunning photographs by Strauss and count her as part of my very small beginner art collection.

Anyway, I really wanted to love her work in "On the Scene" entitled "Week of the Perfect Game." AIC invited Strauss to engage with the city for one week in July and develop a visual story--she chose the end of July, the week during which White Sox picture Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game, hence the piece's title. Strauss captured the area south of Chicago's loop to Gary, Indiana, exploring the region's defining political, social, and popular issues: the grief surrounding the death of Gary, IN native Michael Jackson (which struck me as akin to Warhol's fascination with the death of Marylin Monroe); the pedestal on which the city held the Obama family in the aftermath of the election; the hope for the Olympic bid; the hotel workers strike; the mourning of a teen killed by gun-fire; and the reaction to the perfect ball game. While each individual photograph exhibited the compositional qualities I love in her work,the overall product of her exploration seemed too sparse--there just wasn't enough work. I expected a more in depth visual story to emerge from Strauss' week-long journey; instead, the few mementos left over created a disjointed story that barely seemed to scratch the surface of the compelling issues circulating in the area at the time of her visit. The photographs actually feel like an afterthought to the more impressive translucent photograph of Lake Michigan that masks a full wall of windows, acting as a kind of theatrical backdrop against which her photographic story unfolds.

Strauss is giving a talk at the AIC on 11/12, 6-7 p.m. Maybe her thoughts will help me out, as I really want to love the work as much as I love the artist.

PS Strauss has an awesome blog from which I swiped the featured images.

AIC visit

Admittedly I missed the memo about posting our museum visit evaluations and proposals on our blogs, though this should have been evident to me anyway...I think my brain is still recovering from the Yom Kippur fast. Anyway, apologies to my cyberped class for posting this so late (like, a few hours before class) but the time/date of post will prove that it was at the very least complete before its “deadline.” :)

Okay so my museum visit.

Some thoughts on the use of technology in the museum—

Digital signage:
Clear, readable, and accessible. Definitely makes economical, logistical, and environmental sense. No complaints there.

Audio Tours:
Pretty standard—a kid's tour, highlights tour, Director's tour, and a Spanish tour. Nothing bad but nothing extraordinary.

Touch Screen Pathfinder:
Easy to follow, nicely categorized, could access the museum through all different portals (artworks, exhibitions, dining, shopping, etc.). Much more useful than attempts I’ve seen at made in other museums. I also appreciated the bright red icon with a hand that said "touch here" or something along those lines, as people are hesitant to touch even the things they’re supposed to touch in museums.

BUT—the pathfinders are impossible to find. One is inconveniently located in a random spot on the second floor. No pathfinders were available at museum entrances. I was pleased to learn that there is a hand icon in the Visitor Map depicting where the pathfinders are located in the museum, but I really could not find any in the areas in which they would be most useful…that is areas in which visitors congregate to gather their thoughts and decide where to begin.

I assumed the dearth of these awesome screens was due to funding, but then I noticed that there are two screens right next to each other at the entrance to the Ryan Education Center. One screen is at adult height, the other is at child height, which is adorable and thoughtful, but if they’re stretched for funds and screens, spread the wealth and put the extra one near the entrance, please! I also imagine that lines at the touch screens can pose a problem, as they’re really only conducive to use by one person at a time...but I guess that’s the nature of interactive technology. Fortunately, for those who can’t locate the pathfinders or don’t want to wait to use one, it is available online. (The AIC website is successful at supplementing technology available at the museum itself).

Curious Corner:
The Family Orientation Room in the Ryan Education Center includes four Mac computers featuring “Curious Corner,” a fantastic animated interface with options for stories, matching games, and art activities all relating to the collections and developed for children and families….though I think adults would love it. Curious Corner has also been added to the Kraft Education center in the main building and is available online, which is unfortunate for me as it has quickly become one of my favorite procrastination tools. In lieu of mice for the computers, each screen is equipped with roll-y balls, for lack of a better word, to navigate, and buttons next to the roll-y balls to select. I liked these unique accessories that evidently work well with little fingers…..though these fingers can be pretty germy and in this day of swine flu I’d rather not picture little hands rolling all over the roll-y balls....but again, I guess this is the nature of interactive technology. Just put out a bottle of Purrell maybe?

Now for a quick tangent:
I have to say that I LOVE the new Ryan Education Center in the Modern Wing and the not-so-new Kraft Education Center in the main building. I’ve heard some whines and complaints about the latter…specifically, from a curator who had some not-so-kind remarks about the space during an interview for my undergrad research on interactive contemporary art exhibitions developed for children. I recall her comments being something along the lines of “that unfortunate nursery school place with bright colors” and “not the kind of place in which I prefer to view my Joseph Cornells.” Since that interview, this was my first visit back to the space to which she was referring. I tried viewing it through her eyes...and quickly concluded that the space is nothing less than fantastic, unique, and progressive.

Fine, I get that the colors, interactives, and low hanging artworks scream “FOR KIDS” but really, who cares? Museums are increasingly becoming less about collecting and conserving and more about serving the public. It would be foolish to shy away from this obvious development and detrimental to attendance, which provides the money for said collection and preservation. Further, I don’t see anything wrong with treating a younger audience with the same respect as an adult audience—from a fiscal standpoint, kids are ambassadors to their parents, not to mention the next generation of museum goers. As our culture becomes increasingly visual it is ever more important to provide our visually literate children with a forum in which they are welcome to observe, contribute, and critique.

But I digress.

In terms of a proposal for improved technology….I’ll have to think further. More areas in the museum where visitors can respond to the exhibition would be beneficial. A comment station perhaps? Blogs for each exhibition that could be accessed both online and from within the museum so that visitors can discuss and contribute to the exhibition content that is usually dictated by the seemingly mythical and authoritative voice of the curator. Also, if iPhones become increasingly mainstream, perhaps the next generation of exhibition brochures will be in the form of interactive iPhone apps, in which each object in an exhibition can be selected for further information and Twitter pages could provide discussion. I’m not entirely sold by this idea myself…it's already annoying when people are screwing around on their cells in museums...but it seems plausible and kind of exciting. Right?

Pretty Pictures, Unfortunate Label Text

The following is a list of words/phrases used in the label text at the Art Institute of Chicago's Cy Twombly exhibition:

Inimitable
Incendiary
Transgressive vein
Reverie (twice)
Wet into Wet
Classical Formality

Yawn. No wonder Twombly exhibitions alienate the general public--the translations of his work need their own translators. This awesome opportunity to shed light on one of the most complicated artists is lost in verbose, flowery language and the assumption that every visitor scored well on their Verbal SATs.