Act/React

The Act/React exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum was a wonderful experience. It expanded my mind and my beliefs on what art can be, and what it is. No longer am I restrained to the thinking that art is something that can only be enjoyed from afar, looked at from a distance, or listened to. With these installations I was able to interact with the art on a more personal level, and that gave me a new depth of perception. Scott Snibble’s ‘Deep Walls’ and Janet Cardiff’s ‘To Touch’ are two pieces of art work that prove to be a perfect example of my new found dimension of understanding.

Scott Sniblle’s Deep Walls presents you with a projection of multiple people, and once you step into certain area you’re recorded and also become part of that projection. Now your image is there playing on a loop with other images surrounding you, which are also playing on a loop. You become a part of the artwork yourself, which almost makes you feel as if you’re the artist and now your work is on display. You’re the creator who helps to interrupt and finish the artwork. In the same vein Janet Cardiff’s To Touch works very much in a very similar way. It doesn’t take video of you and project you onto a screen, but what does happen is just as extraordinary. You’re placed in front of a dated wooden table, and depending on where you touch the table, you get to hear different noises. Again, just as in the previously stated piece, you feel as if you’re the artist and the creator, and this your art to finish. It gives you a personal connection. That feeling of controlling isn’t something that can be replicated in traditional art pieces. It’s unique experience that helps you feel what the artist was trying to explore because now you’re exploring, either consciously or sub consciously, the same thing they were.

The Act/React installation provides a level of interaction that brings no only closer to the artwork, but closer to the artists themselves as well.