VanDerBeek @ MIT's List

I really enjoyed my visit to the List gallery to check out the Stan VanDerBeek exhibit. I'd never visited before but now I'm compelled to keep up to date with their other exhibits.

Thoughts: My favorite part of the exhibit was definitely Poemfields and the Movie Mural. It reminded me of a Marta Minujín show I saw recently. At her show there were small rooms to walk through and one had projections on each of the four walls and even the floor and ceiling. (A piece photographic evidence below from a different room at the Minujín exhibit.) VanDerBeek's projection of multiple images in the Movie Mural was truly immersive. I was very happy with the use of space-- the very high ceilings really added to the experience.

The Poemfields were also very cool. I thought it was awesome that he used a technique that involved punch-cards to make those films. I also really liked the trippy feeling of the exhibit-- especially noticeable in Poemfields and the Movie Mural.

Art that involves or includes the viewer always interests me. It makes it more personal and you feel a deeper connection to the work.

In one of the videos VanDerBeek discussed the future of computers and television in art and he made some interesting predictions. For one, he said that one day art schools would teach computers and programming along with more traditional classes. He also predicted 3D televisions and the use of holograms that people would be able to control themselves. He was right about the art schools and 3D televisions so perhaps he will be right about the holograms, too. ((I think Wolf Blitzer hologramed-in Will.I.Am during the last presidential election.))