It's Electric..

Electronics Alive has been very interesting so far, I have left each performance feeling inspired and motivated. I love how the way art can make you feel like you're in a different world, in a different element.





Cynthia Lawson.

She describes her art as the space in between photography & video. Her creations were brilliant and really add another dimension to photography. Being a person who loves photography, I was truly engaged by her work. Especially how she intermixed culture as her underlying subject. She said during her performance, "I make interfaces through which people can view and communicate about critical issues, across cultures and language..." At any point in our lives, if we can find a communication between languages and cultures, we have succeed. Cynthia Lawson's ideas and views about communication in culture makes her visual pieces speak multitudes deeper than the images we are physically looking at.



The artisans in Guatemala was definitely the piece that touched me the most. It is visual proof of how our technological advances are something we take for granted. Their craftsmanship in the beading is beautiful art to us. Our technology is art to them. Our cultures collided together when Cynthia Lawson went to Guatemala.


Bruce Wand.

"The New Face of Contemporary Art"
When Bruce Wand began his performance, he explained that amateurs are the largest content creators. Between flickr, youtube, myspace (to name a few), it is the everyday people on the net that are helping to create. I think it is interesting that he opens up with information like this, and then goes on to teach us amateurs (the audience) about a new kind of art. Almost like he is inviting us to begin our curiosity for Contemporary Art.

I thought many of his examples were thrilling, including Charles A. Csuri's piece Horse Play, 1996 and Andy Deck's Glyphiti, which was amazing that his inspiration comes from ordinary people. I love art that allows the population to get involved if they so choose to be. I think Bruce tried to convey this. He insisted that the point of his performance was to "inform and inspire". By allowing the audience to see that we too can be a part of this art, it allows us to feel more connected.

I also really enjoyed Bruce Wand's Buddha Light Paintings, by showing us the grid and how he reflected the light in certain areas for certain reasons, it gave more meaning to the art. I love art that has some sort of message embedded in it.

Finally, I liked the point he made when he said, "We are at a pivotal moment of digital art. Digital art will eventually become contemporary art as the word 'digital' becomes less and less used." We are in a generation of transformation in every aspect. Between the government, freedoms, technology, inventions, and everything that is continuously growing in our everyday lives, it is wonderful to know we are also part of an art revolution.
Our generation is the face of contemporary art.

Christina Nguyen Hung

I always tell people that my mind only works on the creative side, that I don't understand chemistry or biology. To be able to see an artist use scientific experiments for her inspiration and collection, I was inspired. Christina Hung's creativity is undeniably refreshing. Her ideas to create messages, both poetically and politically, through a petri dish are brilliant. I sometimes get frustrated when I can't understand how someones mind could possibly work to create something so unique. But that frustration soon turns into awe. I wish I could come up with something as creative as Christina has.

You could also tell from the way Christina was speaking that she has passion and desire for work. From all the speakers I saw, I felt it the most with her. She kept explaining that she wasn't perfect at her art yet, and she will continue to make mistakes along the way. And I like that truthfulness. Every artist will come across some leaps and bounds they will hurdle to get to satisfaction in their art, and her explaining that even successful artists feel that way too really made her easy to connect with.

Her story about Steven Kurtz really struck me as something from a Twilight Zone book, or the type of movie where the police are the bad guys. Art is expressive and needs no explanation, so for the law to actually demand this man give up his work and hold him in jail for it, was absolutely appalling to me. We can hope that in the years to come we won't see artists being questioned so heartlessly. I loved how Christina used her own work to speak her mind as well. She truly showed the freedom of speech through her art and I applaud her for that.



Overall I found Electronics Alive invigorating and inspiring. I look forward to tomorrow night's events.