Two artworks at an otherwise slightly deserted Brooklyn Is Watching caught my attention yesterday, when I came inworld to prepare my first post for the BiW blog.
But let me first tell you why there’s a new name on the blog. Selavy Oh, for whom I previously had authored brief essays accompanying some of her work, told me about the seemingly desolate situation at BiW and then introduced my to Jay, who was so kind to invite me as guest blogger.
As so often at BiW, it was the concurrence rather than one of the works separately that attracted me. Both works are repetitions of a single element each bearing an avatar name yielding a list of names. The one by SaveMe Oh called My Content / SaveMe’s Men (left image) shows 15 dress forms with text displayed above them, saying “X Y’s content taken by SaveMe Oh”, each one with a different, apparently existing name. The other, Gauntlet Cubes by Oberon Onmura (right image), also displays names, each above one of 25 black or white cubes. While SaveMe Oh’s work is static, the cubes start spinning, change color, and assume your avatar’s name, if your collide with one of them. From the title of Oberon Onmura’s work I guess that it is meant as a response to SaveMe Oh’s installation, referring to her artistic practice of provocation. While SaveMe Oh’s work is probably best understood as pointer to her social performances, or as a detail accompanying her activities, Oberon Onmura’s installation allows a little glimpse of what could possible if the possibilities of the medium were exploited.
“The list is the origin of culture.” (Umberto Eco)
But at this point it is time to ask: hey, is this all you can deliver? Do the artists, both of them well-known and respected in the community, truly think that these works qualify to be exhibited here? Has BiW really become a junkyard for discarded sketches? Don’t leave it at that, give us better work to look at, since we’re watching again!
Hi there Nusch, welcome to BiW.
Not entirely sure what the artists are trying to say with these pieces, but definitely interesting. I should log in and investigate.
Left by Arahan Claveau on February 8th, 2010