SFO is probably the coolest international airport in the world. I say that because I've seen some of the coolest exhibits there- ones on: typewriters, ouija boards, you name it- as opposed to... SFMOMA.
 |
| Pretty cool! Photo: © Stan Banos |
Remember when you'd take a few bites of your mom's least liked dinner, then spread it around to make like you ate a good deal and just can't take eat anymore? Yeah, that's SFMOMA since it reopened after their expansion a coupla years back- they simply don't have the goods to fill the space. And at $25 a pop! I mean c'mon- I've seen much better, more interesting, more challenging shit at PS1 in NY on a much more regular basis...
Anyway, went there on a free day- at least those are back after a hiatus of several years (having erroneously declared their free days were funded... "in perpetuity"), and was looking forward to seeing Dawoud Bey's portraits. Long story short, took the elevator to the seventh floor and was making my way down in record time until I got to the second (third?) floor and noticed that Bey was no longer there! Fortunately, there was one exhibit worth notice- Oliver Chanarin's portraits. Well... the portraits (of his wife) themselves are pretty damn pedestrian, to say the least. It was their actual installation that was pretty damn clever, gimmick that it was.
 |
| N'est pas? Photo: © Stan Banos |
Each of the four walls in his exhibit had a sliding techno arm with a suction cup that ran the entire length of each wall and removed, returned and then replaced framed photos from a pile of three stacks in each corner of the room. Now, technically it was, indeed, a small marvel to behold! Initially, I didn't think it possible, but the truth was, it functioned quite flawlessly (least while I was there)- even if only one arm out of four was operating. I could imagine a rather predictable disaster had this been attempted in the '70s with the tech then available.
It made me reflect on the editing process all photographers engage in (to one degree of success or another), the more mechanical editing process some photo editors employ, not to mention the increased impermanence of the photographic image itself in these digital, tech driven, Instagram days. Like I said, a lot more interesting than the images themselves... The exhibit also states that the pictures are supposed to be gradually arranged according to the preferences of the live viewing audience. Now, I have no idea whatsoever how that's supposed to be done- not so much because I didn't detect any overt technology recording that information (and the arm just took the photos on top), but because everyone was at a distance watching/enjoying the magic arm do its thing of retrieve and deploy- forget the photos. Perhaps, Mr. Chanarin just added that suggestion for good measure, just like Amazon* states that its high tech innovations also help create a very happy work force.
*the enclosed link states the tech was somehow modeled upon Amazon's.
No comments:
Post a Comment