Interact!

Our current exhibit features several pieces that we encourage you to interact with. All but one of which are audio and visual pieces. The piece that is not an audio is merely visual, consisting of three wooden sculptures of braille. The first piece are two logs with wooden dowels and the braille inscriptions read two poems by Thoreau, and they are titled: "Blind Thoreau", 2007, and "Blind Thoreau II", 2008. The second piece is a floor installment where the braille inscribes over 800 synonyms connecting the words "Walk" and "Talk". The third piece is another log sculpture, entitled "Countless Rings", 2008, with a poem in braille by Emerson. All three of these installments were created by artist, Ben Pranger.

The first audio/visual piece is a set of black telephones. All of our visitors are encouraged to pick up the phone receivers and dial a single digit number to have a poem read aloud through the earpieces. Each new single digit number that you dial will read a different poem. This installment is by artist, John Giorno, and is entitled "Dial-A-Poem".

The second audio/visual piece is a pair of speaks suspended from the ceiling and a projection screen on the back wall. When you stand between the two speakers, there is an apparent buzzing noise, and, make sure that you are facing the screen, you can see letters scattered and moving about on the screen. When you take the two speakers in each hand and bring them up to your ears, a girl begins to talk and, if you stand there long enough to listen, the letters begin to shift and collect together as they form words and sentences, eventually spelling out the entire speech that the girl is telling you. This clever piece was created by artist Bang Geul Han, and is called "David and Jared", and was made in 2008.

The third audio/visual piece is actually three individual pieces. The first is a "Regret Box" and is a rather plain looking box with a speaker in it and, when you press the button, the box spills its recorded regrets to you. The second piece are what appear to be two electronic boards entitled "Babble and Chant". The first, when its button is pressed, merely babbles just as the title suggests and, if you haven't guessed it, yet, the second piece merely chants when its button is pressed. The last piece in this installment is another box, designed to look like an old wooden radio. When its button is pressed, Morse code pours from the speaker. This piece is titled "Any sound, when listened to long enough, becomes a voice" and the Morse Code taps out an abbreviation of its title, stating "Any sound becomes a voice". These clever pieces were all created by artist, Chris Vecchio.

The fourth and last audio/visual piece that we have for you to enjoy is another projection screen and speaker system. These speakers are turned up and do not need to be touched. The screen displays the face of a girl going through different breathing patterns. As you stand in the small corridor where our ramp is located, you can hear her as she breathes through the different patterns. It is a relaxing piece to listen to. This piece was created by artist Melanie McLain, and was created in 2010.

Then, finally, we have an installment that is just an audio piece. The sound plays out through the patio outside. It is turned low, on purpose, so that you can hear it suddenly as you pass by the patio, or perhaps when you are sitting at one of the tables on the patio. It is like this so that it can act as a sort of sudden inspiration, or note, or however the listener interprets the audio at that point depending on their thought and mood at the time. The audio is a recording of the artist, Keith Brand, as he speaks different inspirational pieces. The work is titled "personal motivation" and was created this year, 2013.

So, make sure that you stop by to check these pieces out real soon because within two weeks we'll have a new exhibit for you all to check out!