rut #1-Laura Coalwell

As I was walking through the Suburbia exhibit, I think I was a bit skeptical as to what it was supposed to be saying. I read the captions for each picture, and assumed the artist was almost trying to put down those that live in the suburbs, whose children play soccer, who make casseroles for sunday dinner, and who drive station wagons (the minivan of that era).

However, as I read the more detailed thoughts from the artist after viewing the exhibit, I saw that it was much more positive than I had assumed. I don't think he was poking fun at those people, but rather showing that they were truly happy (for the most part) with their lives and were content to live that way.

I thought it was creative how there were many things that were similar (track homes, similar stories/comments, hairstyles, etc), but there were also very unique images and people. The image of the father and son who were "the same individual" sort of portray this juxtaposition perfectly, in that the father says his son is just like him, but that he was brought up to be his own person.

I wonder how old the authors are. Were they homeowners/parents/adults during this period? Were they children growing up in one of these neighborhoods? Were they city kids that only visited their grandparents in the suburbs for holidays? What experience have they had with this kind of lifestyle and what are their true opinions about it.

Electronic Media Gallery-When I went to the museum this morning at 10 to walk through these two exhibits, the Electronic Media Gallery was being used to prepare for another installation and I wasn't able to view the videos.

However, I was able to get a sneak peek at the new exhibit that will go up in a couple weeks. It was an electronic pad of some kind (think dance dance revolution), roughly 4ft by 6ft with a digital interactive image of something that to me looked like either a pool of hot lava or microorganisms of a microscope.

Either way, the lava-like image was active and the artists let me test it out. After telling me that the electronic exhibit wouldn't be running for another hour, I asked what this piece was about and they said, "walk over it."

So I did.

And the lava changed based on where I stepped. It must have been heat sensitive, but after I walked over it, as the artists put it, "it healed itself."

Anyway, I'm curious to see what the rest of the exhibit will entail and what it is supposed to represent, so I'll definitely be going back in 2 weeks.