ArtMyReaction

I got to the museum early on a Friday morning. A few people where waiting, as well as me, outside the doors before the doors opened. But, I was the first person to enter the ActReact installation, and had some time to really take in some of the exhibits in solitary.
When I first approached Scott Snibble's piece 'Boundry functions' (I think that was the name of the piece anyway) I thought it was broken. It is a screen on the floor which creates lines between people demonstrating personal space. But, when I stepped on the screen alone nothing happened. It did not occur to me at first, but how can you have a personal boundary when no one is there? When I approached the piece later when other people were present on the screen the sections of your personal boundary shrunk with the more people on the screen, so I asked my self 'does person boundary expand with the presence of less or no people?' Do I feel more of an expanded presence within a room when no one is around? I do not quite have an answer to that, but the question itself really has me wondering about my relationship with my space which Liz Phillips's installation had me question in another sense.
I returned to Liz's installation twice. The first time when I was alone it had no real impact on me, but he second time it was not it's impact on me which grabbed my attention. It was how I impacted the room which grabbed my attention the second time around. I was in there with a few other people, and a woman within the group suggested to stay as quite as possible to turn off the lights, and it occurred to me. The installation changed the way I would normally impact a space, not the other way around. We enter in rooms, turn lights on a and off, run hot or cold water but Liz's space seemed to be constructed for people to impact a room in very new way. How I talked and moved effects the sounds and lights emanating within the room, when all I noticed he first time was how the neon lights lighted up in certain spots and there was sound to accompany it. But, the woman who suggested we keep quite was not the only factor which lead me to this conclusion, it was the piece that I visited between the two visits which was Janet Cardiff's To Touch.
Janet Cardiff's installation is what really drew me into the whole ArtReact exhibit. I was a little surprised by that fact, because in lecture that was the piece I was the least interested in. But, when I entered that room the lighting on the table drew me in. I went strait to the table to touch and listen to the accompanying audio speakers. I continued to do this for several minutes trying to figure out how the whole thing worked. I then came to the realization that I was no longer paying attention to how the table felt. It was like that part of my mind which processes touch went on auto pilot. It was almost like I was experiencing the act of conditioning, and I was realizing it happening. I looked around a bit more and stood by one speaker for a while and discovered that each speaker has some sort of loop playing. I didn't really look for a motion sensor, but I had the feeling the speakers were set of randomly.
Revisiting the healing pool I came to the conclusion that this is a pacers dream. It makes the act so much more engaging when you are already walking around deep in thought. It even makes me wonder what a cat would do on that floor. But, for the long periods of time that I pace around and think, that thing would keep me captivated in my own thoughts for an extended period of time. So, while pacing over the piece I thought about the differences between floor pieces and wall pieces especially that of Camille Utterback. I wondered about the direct interactivity with the floor pieces compared to that of the wall pieces which required you to stand several feet away from the piece. Unlike in lecture when we saw people moving in all ways to manipulate the piece, i found standing still in untitled 6 to be the most pleasing. The other two were ok, but I like the way the rose like shapes moved around as I stood still. It was like I made a picture composed partially of me, which I guess was part of the concept behind Daniel Rozin's snow mirror and peg mirror, but I felt something a tad different with those pieces.
The peg mirror at first I was interested in because of how I could place my had in front of the sensor and completely manipulate the piece with one stroke of my hand. It was the snow mirror, though, that really felt like something different than any of the wall installations. I felt like I was looking at another person when I was looking into the piece. It was like this person was in Canada, and he was a more down to earth kind of guy. I don't know why this came to mind, but this must have been the most intriguing of the pieces because of what I was able to make out of it.
Other than the ArtReact installation I went to go see the infinity room in which I wish I had one in my own home. That thing would make a great meditation chamber. The matrix room did not strike me in any certain way, and its impact on me was quite diminished compared to the other pieces in the gallery such as the sculpture made up of all the T.V's. Overall I had a new grasp on this new idea of art and interactivity.
I have been going to the Museum for years. My father use to take me and my sister when we were little when the sail porting of the building was still a miniature. For the first time, thought, the space itself engaged me into the art to the point where I even viewed all the other pieces in a new way. I went to the portrait gallery after visiting both exhibits, and felt a whole new seeing when I was looking at these pictures. When I was at the Steven Shore gallery at Marquette I was drawn in by the pictures themselves, but now I feel a new relationship with the gallery space. A new way to make things out of pieces within the space.