Just Add People

by Charles Dee Mitchell April 1, 2007

I caught the 9:17 AM showing of Jennifer Steinkamp's Ring of Fire a couple of days ago. There were three of us in my group, and except for a couple of people washing windows and the staff at Paciugo's we were the only people in Victory Park. (What is with that name? Victory Park? Did we win something and I just missed it?) Victory Park is one of those “build it and they will come” urban developments. Also it is not by any stretch of the imagination a park. It is a would-be public square, anchored by the hideous pile of bricks known as the American Airlines Center on one end and the super swanky W Hotel across the street. I suppose that when there is an event there are a lot of people around, but when we were there it had an eerie, dystopian vibe.


 

Steinkamp's video plays on two 30 by 53 ft screens, actually four screens that come together. They roll silently on tracks on the second and third floor levels of the buildings that enclose the square. There is a soundtrack credited to Jimmy Johnson, but it was playing so softly that it added very little to the scene. Steinkamp's animated flowers cascade across the screens. They are very pretty, even luxurious in their hard-edged way. Towards the end of the five minute playing time, they suffer a kind of meltdown and get all blobby. But then they come back and they are pretty again. The two of us who were old enough to remember agreed that it had a seventies feel to it. Very trippy. But the audience at Victory Park is more likely to be high on a $150 lobster dinner from the N9ne Steakhouse than LSD.

Does this mark our final, gleeful capitulation to the Society of the Spectacle?

Well, maybe. But what a way to go. And the screens look great. They host a combination of art and advertising around the clock. You can submit your own videos to their website.

8 comments

8 comments

AllisonDD April 3, 2007 - 06:54

Lovely comparison with the LSD psychodelic flowers, I wish there was a way to get a better view of the piece.

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npadron April 3, 2007 - 06:57

I would’ve liked to see the video of the flowers and how they melted seem pretty cool.

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murph3024 April 3, 2007 - 06:58

I didnt fine the piece very interesting at all i wish there was some way that you could have described the piece more instead of where it was held.

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Sunshine April 3, 2007 - 06:58

I agree with allison, a actual showing would have been nice to see haha. I do like the concept of them revolving back and forth from the two different levels. It is interesting and different. I like the title of the art work as well.

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geminibsc31 April 3, 2007 - 07:17

sounds a little interesting. however, a better review would have given me a better impression of what was actually involved in this piece. i think i heard more complaining about the lack of people being at this event on this particular day than about the art work itself.

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Sunshine April 3, 2007 - 08:45

The idea of rolling screens would definitely add to the aesthetics of the park.

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Sunshine April 3, 2007 - 08:50

The revolving screens add color to an otherwise dull empty place

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Sunshine April 3, 2007 - 08:52

I think is a great idea, I would love to see the images changing forming the flowers accompanied by music.

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