Chelsea Galleries

I found Eddo Stern's pieces to be very thought provoking in their use of web and game popular icons to form new visual forms. His motorized shadow puppets were visually beautiful at first glance, and then hilarious when one recognizes the form of Steven Segal flexing numerous appendages, or Chuck Norris fending off a lion with his bare hands. His pieces dealing with online gaming forums were particularly revealing about not only gaming but cyber culture in general. In the anonymous realm of the internet and text-based forums, people are often more willing to expose themselves emotionally and politically than they might be in person. One piece, a face made up of icons and characters from World of Warcraft and other online games, presented excerpts from an actual online debate about a boy's Christian family and their conflict with his online gaming habit.
My favorite piece, perhaps of the whole day, was Daniel Rozin's Weave Mirror, entirely for its stunning visual appeal, and use of technology in a piece that felt so organic. Watching an entirely organic looking piece morph and shift in reaction to movement in real time was infinitely pleasurable. Rozin masterfully blended traditional aesthetics with high technology to create the piece.
The pieces we saw at Eyebeam all seemed to have one thing in common, being a theme of interconnectivity with the real world. The hut for sheltering illegal immigrants, the video balloon, and the mock airline were directly influenced by and commented on extremely current issues. The Airline used computer technology to the most interesting effect, being able theoretically to update itself in real time based on actual flights carrying prisoners around the world. This gave the piece and undeniable eeriness and immediacy.