Review: Screen- Virtual Material | Exhibition
The exhibition Screens at the de Cordova Museum challenges our perception of the screen as both a physical object as well as the way that be perceive objects within a screen, as asks us to question what makes up a screen both in a physical and metaphorical sense.
There are a number of different artists featured throughout the exhibition, but some that I found particularly powerful were Penelope Umbrico, Josh Tonsfeldt, and Brian Bress.
Penelope Umbrico’s piece, Out of Order, consisted of advertisements for broken TVs, many of which are printed on broken TV screens. You get the sense that this is a very rapidly evolving technology, and that these screens which were once the most cutting edge technology are now obsolete. The screens are all placed against the gallery wall, adding to the feeling of impermanence and precariousness.
Josh Tonsfeldt’s piece, Untitled (de Cordova 1-5) also examines the screen as a physical object. Tonsfeldt deconstructs the TV screen into its essential elements and lays them out for us (or, rather, hangs them up for us) so that we can appreciate them as individual parts of a whole. Instead of the obsolete feeling Umbrico’s work gives off, Tonsfeldt’s work feels almost like a scientific dissection of the television. I thought that the first of these screens was the most engaging as it consisted of the actual LED lights and was still able to be activated, whereas the other parts of the screen, while still interesting, weren’t able to display anything as they were simply disembodied parts.
Another piece I really loved in this exhibit was Brian Bress’s work. Three of Bress’s videos that were part of his Noon Noon work were shown. In his work, Bress’s characters interact with the screen, appearing to saw apart the screen or draw on the screen from inside of it. This work breaks the fourth wall, but goes beyond that forcing us to challenge how we think about the screen. We begin to feel as though the characters on the other side are watching us and that we are the ones inside the screen. We begin to question the screen as a wall and as medium. Bress’s work is somewhat startling and uncomfortable because of how directly his characters address you and ignore all typical rules around the screen.
Photographs taken by me at the de Cordova Museum and used only for educational purposes
