Field Report #2

I feel my Act/React experience was greatly dampened by the fact that we saw everything beforehand in class. I found the video we watched in class to be interesting and insightful but I feel it would have been more effective after the fact. The one installation to me that surprised me was actually the one I had the least expectations for. Brian Knep’s Healing Pool installation was the one that is advertised for the exhibit, and went into depth on the video in class. Out of all the installations I think I spent the most time on this one and its spectacle held me longer than any others. I spent time trying to spell things out and jump around; the other installations just didn’t hold me for too long. As I was walking on it, other people saw this and joined in as well, I feel this is where these pieces are most effective. I went on Scott Snibbe’s Boundary Functions with one other person, and it was non-enticing to say the least. I could see how the experience would be amplified if say ten people were interacting.
Again the fact that all the wonder of the installations were taken out and I felt my opinions were already made on the piece’s even before I saw them. One piece that I found to be one of my favorites was Daniel Rozin’s Peg Mirror. I found myself to move at different distances and tested the reaction speed of it, which was insanely accurate. For the most part, I feel uneasy about standing and staring for an extended period of time, but for some reason art captivates and asks me to do so. These installations added to my contemplative staring as I reacted to them; there were no extended readings on them and it was up to me to decipher what to get out of them. Snow Mirror was probably my favorite because I was either unaware or unclear on the piece beforehand. It took a while for me to figure out the logistics of it, where the camera was, and so fourth. Once I ‘figured’ it out I was held captive for a little over 5 minutes, much longer than any other piece. I was especially disappointed in Echo Evolution by Liz Phillips; I felt for the longest time that something was supposed to happen, and when it didn’t I felt sort of cheated. This was the only one that did not fulfill my expectations. I think Fifield puts the overall experience well with “Through interactivity, contemporary artists mirror, distort, and confuse the audience’s experience, not of representation, but of reality itself.” My entire experience and my reaction are different than the next person that walks in. Afterward I walked around the rest of the museum and had the incredible urge to touch many of the timeless art; from here I realized the importance of interactive art and where the art movement is heading.