Eyebeam Gallery

The Eyebeam Gallery was a huge display of various new media artwork. The tour guide was really great, he was clearly enthusiastic about the projects, but he was very difficult to understand.

What I found interesting is the idea between function and art. It didn’t appear to me that the “Safe House” was entirely a piece of art, but more of a conceptual idea that could be used in real life for a purpose. There is a transformative nature behind this artwork is the questions it raises about immigration. This form of art, where it serves to make you question the world around you is found throughout the gallery. I also had a hard time seeing the art in the exhibit that actually follows the flight patterns of government planes that either deviate from their scheduled landing, or fly to Guantanamo Bay.

I enjoyed the video gallery of the bed facing a huge projection of the New York subway. This exhibit seems to me like something that New Yorkers can relate to. It is really interesting to see the subway without the sounds involved in it, and to place the image by a bed, which is a place of rest.

The other video exhibit by Angie Eng was disappointing. It tried to be edgy by doing unconventional things on the streets of New York, but they didn’t seem to be that abnormal or “weird”. The strangers walking past the people who sat in lawn chairs didn’t even give a second glance (there are people who sit in lawn chairs on the sidewalk outside my dorm).

I may have missed the point of the big balloon, but I like the idea of an interactive projection where people can send an e-mail to an address and it gets posted in the gallery. I also thought it was interesting to have a web-site as an exhibit. I like how it exhibits programming as an art-form. The web-site projects which party people donated money to, so you can find out who your neighbors support.