A3: CERAMICS AND THE TREACHERY OF OBJECTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Recently, I went to the 64th Scripps College Ceramic Annual show entitled, Arm’s Length In: Ceramics and the Treachery of Objects in the Digital Age. It was held at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery in Claremont. The show was curated by Phyllis Green and featured pairs of artists. Six artists were specifically selected for this exhibition- MyungChin Choi, Sadashi Inuzuka, Charles Long, Jim Melchert, Jeanne Quinn and Annabeth Rosen. Each was asked to take on an outside partner to collaborate with for their installation. I had to opportunity to go to this show the afternoon before the opening so that I could take the time to really take in and view each piece without the noise and fuss of a crowd at the reception.
As a whole, the pieces didn’t work that well together. I felt a sense of disjunction and disconnection between the installations. However, individually I very much enjoyed each piece. Each work had a uniqueness and interesting perspective on the fusion of traditional ceramic work and the digital world that is continuously growing and thriving in our lives. Although I appreciated each piece, a few really stuck out to me.
MyungChin paired up with Dani Levental and created this suspended structure constructed out of tiny white ceramic blocks that fit together. This structure created a sort of three-walled shelter, and on the middle wall images of homeless people in urban settings were projected. This was probably my least favorite out of the group, mainly because it took someone to explain it to me for me to realize that the hanging piece was supposed to resemble a shelter and that the projected images were actually of people, let alone homeless people.
Charles Long paired up with KSPC 88.7 FM Radio to create an interactive piece that relied heavily on the participation of the viewers. One hundred blocks of colored clay were set individually on their own shelves on a wall. Each shelf had its own lighting, as if each were a pedestal for a piece of art. KSPC Radio provided endless hours of music that continuously played on a loop for the viewer’s pleasure. A few feet from the wall was a table, chairs and tools for working with clay. The viewers were invited to step up and, using the provided clay on the wall, create their own artwork to be placed on a shelf. I think that creating an interaction with the viewer is very important when it comes to art. Most art that you find in fine art galleries or museums are very isolated and “hands off,” so this served as a nice change from that.
Sadashi Inuzuka chose to work with Thomas Bray and also created an interactive installation. Sadashi had created beautiful ceramic pieces that resembled organisms found in the deep sea. They were mounted in a square grid formation on the wall. These aquatic forms each had what appeared to be a speaker and some a video screen that was installed into the center. About two feet to the right of this installation were two more forms mounted on the wall, one with a microphone at the center and one with a peephole. Above the piece with the microphone was the word “speak” and above the one with the peephole was the word “look.” The idea was to speak into the microphone and look into the peephole and there was a delay so that you could run over and see or hear yourself. However, the trick was that the microphone was actually a camera and the peephole was actually a microphone. I felt that this interaction between the work and the viewer was successful because it kept the viewers attentions and interest to figure out what was going on.
I had seen collaborative shows before, but this show in particular has stuck with me, it served as a learning experience. I think because I saw this particular one so close to the time when I was putting together my own work for a collaborative show, it really resonated within me. I took my experience as a viewer of the show and applied it to create a successful show of my own.