I had a great time at the media preview of Come Up To My Room at The Gladstone Hotel. It's always fun to see what surprises await in the transformed hotel rooms on level 2. You can still by tickets for tomorrow and Sunday online
here or at the door ($10).
Jewel Net Of Indra, Gareth Bate. Hand painted portraits of historical figures in the tradition of portrait miniatures are hung together to represent a net of interconnectedness. It is based on a Buddhist metaphor of an infinite net of jewels each representing an individual. We are all apart of the net as we are all in turn a part of history and the individuals who form it.
A-Public Space installation, Interstice studio. Exploring the possibilities of reused materials using traditional craft techniques. Only a close inspection reveals that the elegant web is actual constructed of carefully woven paper-clips and butterfly tacks.
The Refraction Machine Or An Apparatus For Bending Light, Matt Peddie&Wes Wilson.
J-Public Space, Lost Nation.
Art Bar (Main Floor) Public Space, Hyungshin Hwang. A primordial shape reminiscent of termite hills and teepees.
My sources tell me that he spent all
week building it in the Art Bar. This explains the tools carefully laid out.
The act of creating it within that space is also part of the finished piece.
The wood seems nailed haphazardly but everything comes together to create a
cohesive piece and everything is planned. It is only the illusion of accident.
Overall I thought this had a peaceful also meditative quality to it.
Nourish, Architext. Social sculpture exploring the experience and evolution of dining. There were dinners seated int he main floor cafe who were party of this piece. by interacting with them visitors also became part of the piece. My contribution was to eat the cold tinned no-name spaghetti that you see above. I also had a discussion with one of the dinners about the politics of adding sugar to tomato sauce (yes, even some Italians do it). I thought this was a fun piece and I really enjoyed interacting.
Room 205, [R]ED[U]X LAB. I saw a curtain and a bluish light coming from behind it. I
wasn’t sure if I was an exhibit. I pulled back layers and layers of cotton
sheets. Upon entering a man handed me a tiny flash light. The entire room had
been transformed into a kind of blanket fort for adults. some of the sheets had images silk screened on to them that were just visible when I shown my flash light on to them. I liked the feeling of discovery evoked by this piece.
Geo-Cognition, Wendy Fok. A fusion of four geographic locations that had the most profound influence on the artist's work and life.
DARKLAB, SubZeroArts. A mysterious and beautiful, possibly alien artifact sits alone in the middle of a pitch black room. Using sound-sensor technology it 'senses' the presence of viewers and reacts through light and sound.
Firmament, Matthew Blunderfield&Skanda Lin. The strangely beautiful mobile of electronic detritus draws attention to the life cycle of our gadgets and the astonishing amount of waste that is a result of our consumption.
Mirrored Room with Shiny Spinning Things, Bruno Billio&Sam Mogelonsky. Shiny things that spin and are indefinitely repeated through the use of reflection. I really needed video to capture thids piece as it was nearly impossible to photograph. such is the nature of shiny spinning things I guess. Bruno actually lives at the Gladstone in room 209 where the piece is displayed so their is a voyeuristic aspect to viewing the piece.
