The “New Art and Sound” exhibit, open at the Dorothy Uber Bryan gallery until Nov. 17, gives viewers the chance to interact with the pieces they’re looking at.
“If you pay attention to the sounds and what the people are saying, it becomes very intimate and special,” said Jaqui Nathan, gallery director.
The exhibit features San Francisco based artist Pamela Z’s installation “Baggage Allowance.”
Z’s “Baggage Allowance” is a seven-piece installation that includes different types of luggage combined with video and audio, making it a true multimedia exhibit.
“As a performance artist, I have a lot of experience with travel and lugging my things all over the world,” she said.
Junior Victoria Scott identifies with the ideas of travel and loss.
“A lot of it deals with travelling,” she said, “In my life I’ve never really had parents and I was on the go a lot, so I feel like I lived out of my suitcase.”
Scott said that the installation worked especially well with the large gallery space.
“I like how spaced out it is,” she said. “You can stand in one spot and get a lot of everything.”
Z said the installation is about the broader sense of the word baggage and the deeper meaning behind it relating to emotional attachment and attachment to things. It’s part of a larger compilation that includes a performance element and a browser based element.
“This isn’t the kind of show you can walk through and say ‘oh I’ve got it,’ you’ve got to stop and listen and participate in each of the pieces that are on display,” Nathan said.
The show also features work from fellow California based artist, George Lewis.
Lewis’ work is the story of the “complicated processes” involved in a wastewater treatment plant, Nathan said. His installation is also one that the viewer can personally get involved with.
“When you’re in there different things happen and when no one is in there, nothing happens,” she said.
The gallery has been host to many more traditional shows in the past.
“It is exciting to host such an avant-garde performance based exhibition,” Nathan said.
