1440 Minutes

1440 Minutes
4/11/2008
5pm-?
UCCS GoCA & CC Coburn

It was a night of performance art and installation. In the UCCS gallery space, there were five main interaction spaces. The first was the food and drinks that met you immediately upon entering. This is incredibly new since in past exhibitions, the catering was outside in he hallway and no food or drink was allowed inside. The reason for the change is that there were cameras set up watching the interactions with the catering – after grabbing your goods, you wandered over behind the wall to find two projectors showing people moving. It was titled something like “What Brings Us All Together” – and suddenly you realize “That’s the entryway to the gallery!” You were on these projections earlier!
For some, it made them wary of going back for seconds. Some of those that did go back were more aware of what they were doing. Based on the title, one could conclude that food and drinks bring us together; and possibly on another level, television – people doing mundane or unimportant things on TV.

Next door to these projections was a small, dimly lit hallway to a very large black trifold cardboard probably about eight feet tall, which was labeled “The Art Confessional”. On a short pedestal directly in front of it was a stick of white chalk and fake plastic fly. At first, people wrote about art-related things, but soon the confessional “wall” was littered with profanities and nonsense statements, some not related to art at all. People would stand and read everyone else’s before putting their own confessions down.
My favorite would have to be “I fucked Picasso”. It reminded me of the bathroom stall walls back in High School, where girls privately would write something, yet know that it would be seen – like confession is hypocritical, telling someone something deeply personal that you don’t want to share for fear of judgment (which is why for the first hour or so the confessional wall was left empty I think…) but kind of want to share to get it off your chest. Perhaps that’s why it took time for others to write; they want that cushion of anonymity so no one will know which theirs is out of all those – either that or the feeling that it’s alright to share because so many others did too. I ran into this kind of sharing timidity at the CC portion later. But let’s finish the UCCS side.

Adjacent to the confessional was a “church”. Benches set up in rows where the “congregation” sat. It was the ARTCHURCH by the ARTOFFICIALS. They even had missals for you to take that outlined the “mass”. The “priests” were attired in black and berets, the classic stereotype artist’s dress. One stood at the pulpit, reading and sermonizing things like “Andy Warhol’s Diary” and “The Unartfulness of Modern Life”. The space was lit by video projections of churches on the front wall, and two smaller ones on the side walls. They were colored differently and in constant motion over the facades, resembling stained-glass windows. Multiple monitors stacked on one side showed various faces of people, like the iconography of saints – either that or they were the choir. In front was an alter with tabernacle (what usually holds the hosts) type thing against the wall, surrounded by candles. I didn’t get to observe the whole “mass”, but from what I gather from colleagues, they were given a little plastic shiny red heart ornament for “communion” – a mass-produced art-object. My favorite part about this would have to be “The Sign of the Bulb” which is like the sign of the cross in Christianiy, but instead tracing the contour of a light bulb and then putting your index finger up in an “Aha!” epiphany gesture.
This art-mass was brilliant, changing the ritual of Christianity into ritual of art – as though art (which it is/should be) was something to be thought about and revered. “The Artistic Trinity, In the name of The Idea, The Process, and The Work.” It has great possibilities for provoking discussion in the arts and life as this piece can be taken on different levels: as a serious or satirical critique of art practices, as a mocking of Christian ritual, and even as an educational venue for people (the “congregation”) to learn about art.

The last part of UCCS’ space was two curtained off cubicles on adjacent walls which were connected to one another by was of a screen and a video camera. The person in the other cubicle could see you on their monitor via your camera recording and transmitting you in real-time. Outside on the cubicles, people can see who’s inside and what they’re doing. On the walls next to the cubicle entrances were three large $5 bill reproductions (probably 12x5”) with words something like “Abe Lincoln wants someone to crack” in yellow lettering. Later that night, we discovered the real purpose – whoever laughed first lost the $5 prize. I actually won once. A person would make faces or do something into his or her camera to get the person in the other cubicle to laugh. There were even some team tries. People gathered around to watch the antics as they were projected on the outside of the cubicles as well.
This rounds up the sort of theme of UCCS’ gallery space; it is something of watching other people and being aware of our own actions. This last piece pushes the boundaries of socially acceptable behavior and comfort boundaries: How far are you willing to go to win that $5 with all of those people watching?

The UCCS space was fun and engaging.
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From there, one could take a shuttle to the CC campus gallery. For the trip on the bus there was a work by UCCS professor Valerie Brodar. On the window were large sheets of vellum printed with times, places, and descriptions of people who rode busses (at least it seemed that was what was being described). An audio track on loop played with different voices reading these descriptions one at a time – each full of inferences about the personalities and happenings in the lives of the one being observed. It was an interesting juxtaposition of elements with the context of us the viewers riding a bus. At once, this conveyance is a means to the other art space, but itself is part of the work presented by Brodar. It brings to mind the people watching that we all do, sometimes seeing another person on the bus (or elsewhere) and judging who they are from that brief window into their lives – making assumptions or conclusions that may or may not be accurate.
It almost made riders more conscious of being a rider on the bus and of being seen by others. Some even craned their heads around to observe other riders. This piece was transition into the less interactive space at CC.
The CC Coburn gallery sported four works, two interactive and two installation. Somehow, CC’s portion was more quiet and unused – people were not as talkative and did not interact with the artwork as much. It felt more like a classic gallery set-up where viewers aren’t really supposed to touch anything – only observe and silently contemplate.
On a wall was a timeline with some sort of floral wallpaper design, affixed by what looks like Xerox transfers. Pencils with a sharpener were in a corner in a basket. When I got there at around 7pm, there were a few written entries on the timeline and two or three children’s drawings. It seemed people were timid, so I picked up a couple pencils and went to town drawing on those walls. After a while, my colleagues and some other started drawing on the walls too. There were no instructions for the piece and no one spoke to us about it, so we drew or wrote whatever.
This was a little like the confessional wall at UCCS’ GoCA. However, it brings to mind a different issue about environments. It is almost culturally trained into most people that one does not touch the artwork. How the environment is set-up can determine the kinds of behaviors allowed.
Since every work I had seen to this point of the 1440 was interactive in some way, I sat down and started playing with one of the installations resembling a decrepit office-space. The gallery manager came up to me smiling politiely and said, “…this isn’t really all that interactive,” and told me I could draw on the wall or crochet over there. This office space was set against a movable wall. There was a laptop with what appeared to be security video footage on top of the desk, along with a tray and piles of papers, a ring-around of official looking stamps and three ink pads, and a half finished cup of coffee. An empty, rusty two-drawer filing cabinet completed the scene.
Sharing the movable wall on the other side was an equally decrepit looking bathroom space with a very dirty moldy sink coming from the wall (I think there was mold or cat hair in the drain…), a cheap woven rug in front of the sink, and a small pile of women’s shoes off to the side – some being brightly colored pumps or glittery heels.
These two installations were by far the least engaging of the 1440 show for me, because of their static nature. Even the floor crocheting was more active, with balls of colored yarn all around and a multi-pointed star-like crochet-construction where viewers could at least sit down and continue the crocheting on one of the arms.
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Overall, the show was very successful – there were more people at the opening than I have seen at other exhibition openings. The crowd was diverse and active, even drawing in professors from other departments. There was talk about the art shown, art in general, and there was socialization between friends and new people. An excellent community event.

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C. Szarkowski