>>PREVIEW
KAY BURNS: CONVERSE
Runs until November 11
TRUCK Gallery
A smile, a raised eyebrow – small gestures have the ability to communicate great meaning. But, what if that person across the room could actually feel your expressions physically? Using technology to experiment with language and intimacy, Kay Burns’ Converse, at TRUCK Gallery, forces viewers to confront this question.
The gallery is dark except for two focused spotlights, each of which illuminates a square wooden platform. Just below each of the spotlights, a video camera is placed at eye level. The headphones you have been given block out all the sound in the room. Stepping up onto one of the platforms, you are immediately thrown off-kilter by strong vibrations beneath your feet. On the wall beside you, a flat panel screen shows your head and shoulders in highly pixelated black and white. Your every movement causes the little squares to shimmer as your features move from light to shadow. You try holding still – your image recedes into a faint outline and the vibrations come to a stop. You scratch your nose and they begin again. You wave your hand in front of the camera’s lens and the platform seems to roll beneath your feet.
Some of the vibrations you feel are not connected to your own movements. Someone has stepped onto the other platform. She bends down to remove her shoes and the sudden movement resonates in your toes like a transport truck speeding past on the highway.
After much experimentation, the subtleties of this medium are revealed. Shuffling closer to the camera, your facial expressions begin to register on the screen. A smile illuminates the pixels of your mouth – you can even feel the rhythm of her speech.
Mediated by technology, intimacy can only be achieved by getting closer physically to the camera, rather than closer to another person. Negotiating these barriers, viewers at the opening reception had a range of reaction to this unusual challenge.
Self-conscious, many tried out a few gestures, then gave up. Others, not content with subtlety, engaged in wild gestures, moving their entire bodies back and forth in front of the camera. Many pairs mirrored each other, repeating gestures like a call and response. Some developed a tender, gentle exchange while others broke down in fits of laughter.
Like any communication medium, Converse is imperfect. There are limits to the variety of sensations that can be transmitted. However, by forcing viewers to negotiate their exchanges through technology, Burns challenges her audience to consider how language is created. Rough gestures can be perceived as rough, and gentle ones as gentle, but more complicated expressions are crude and clumsy. Could Converse be used to develop a system of signs to communicate meaning? The problem is definitely worth contemplation. |
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