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Beyond
Reason, 2005
Silicon and mixed media.
Beyond Reason, commissioned
by the Siebel Center of Computer Science, at UIUC, turns to a new subject
of imitation – the human body. In Beyond
Reason the artist chose as her site a somewhat barren laboratory
in this highly secured building. Room 417, like most of the building’s
labs, allows no access to the public, but invites a full view of the
room’s contents through a glass wall that separates the room
from the hallway. Unlike the other busy labs in the facility, however,
this room contains only untended racks of server computers, blinking
away in the darkness.
Benson chose to add to this public sign of computing power and intelligence another
mute, inaccessible representation - a full-scale mannequin self-portrait. The
artist stands in the lab frozen in mid gesture with the computers, arguing or
persuading on our behalf, an avatar for the “artist in residence” but
also for the passerby. As in previous projects, Beyond Reason playfully suggests
an illusion of life, yet without letting go of artifice. Perhaps new to this
project though, Benson’s employment of illusion brings the status of the
other “live” objects into question – why do we believe the
racks of servers to be more alive than her immobile avatar? What new life do
we hope the artist will bring to the “uninspired” space of the scientific
lab? These questions and others make Beyond
Reason an exciting extension of Benson’s past works, as well as
a promising turn towards new transformations of site.
Kevin Hamilton, Coordinator and Curator, Art in the Siebel Center.
Essay by Joseph squire and Nan Gogin. |
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