Event Blog: Deadwood

One piece from the Deadwood show.
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a showing of Youjin Chung's Deadwood: Useless, For Use exhibition.  Upon entering the darkened room, the first thing that stood out to me were the stark white walls that drew your attention in the large space.  Further underscoring the main features of the show were bright spotlight type light features that illuminated the different pieces of the show.  Heading in, I did not know what to expect based on the name Deadwood and the flyer for it.  I never would have guess how relevant and timely the show was to the material we covered in the first weeks of class.  

 The first piece in the exhibit was what look like two black arms with sections attached to them that spin around or rotate.   On the parts that moved, there were various white plastic objects such as miniature heads.  Additionally, all of the wiring which made this work could easily been seen spilling around the base of the object.  Here was a tangible, real life example staring me in the face of the way that art and science can overlap with each other.  Without any knowledge of science, it would not have been possible to get the pieces working and moving.  On the opposite hand, a scientist would also need knowledge of art to create something like this because even though they could figure out how to get it moving, a scientist might not recognize the contrast between the black and white, or the symbolism behind the objects chosen to go on the piece.  Both are needed to get the end result.
Suspension of controller from ceiling, another
part of the Deadwood show

I found this theme of art and science both being needed to complete the end result carried over to the second part of the show, a video game controller suspended on wires from the ceiling in front of projection of moving hands.  Without math or physics, it would be impossible to know how long to make the wires and the angle to suspend them at from the ceiling to the controller as the wires were not glued on but rather, slipped over the four ends of the controller.  Seeing two real life examples that so clearly demonstrated the interconnectedness of art and science helped to reinforce that the two can never truly be separated.




Me at show in front of the controller piece!

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