The exhibition at Little Berlin this month is all about hanging out. This is not to say that the past and current members exhibiting at the East Kensington creative space are sitting around kicking back brews and watching Netflix (although that may also be true). The Berliners showing work in “Hung” literally have their installations dangling – sometimes precariously – from the ceiling.
Notably precarious is the veiny, metallic form by Tyler Kline entitled “Radiant Energy Transfer, A Requiem for Mike Kelley.” The sculpture is composed of a steel frame and branching aluminum foil roots that spread down toward the floor in a bulbous fractal form. Throughout the structure are dissected radios and boom boxes whose speakers are activated by motion sensors which lie like booby traps in the surrounding area. The audio component is always potentially on, activated by the movement of viewers/participants. This energy transfer sparks the sound which ultimately brings the sculpture to life. Its aluminum foil composition and sound components are a direct reference to work by, and a requiem for, the late artist Mike Kelley.
Kelani Nichole takes networking to a whole new level in the aptly named “NETWORK”. She does her best to visualize a network by utilizing the gold standard of its gerund: the business card. Networking as a skill has begun to take on entirely new forms and functions in the digital age. With Facebook and “Text me your name” standing in as the primary contemporary contact routes, the business card is still prevalent, although bizarrely antiquated. Oftentimes “Here’s my card” is now met with sideways glances and raised eyebrows, and the things have a tendency to accumulate in desk drawers and never garner a second look. Nichole bestows new lives upon these objects by placing them into a physical web which mirrors its ethereal digital cousin.
The elliptical triptych “Interiors” by Angela McQuillan looks most like a diagram hanging on the wall in a doctor’s office alongside x-rays and CT scans, and this is no accident. These multimedia, biological representations are supposed to mimic the cross-sections of medical scans, but in this context they are meant to convey personal interactions and emotions as opposed to medical anomalies. Appearing on the double-sided canvases you may find a variety of cellular forms, rainbow bursts, and hexagonal beehive structures.
Alex Walcroft has constructed one of the more grounded installations in the exhibit. A floor-like, hardwood surface lies agape as if “The Telltale Heart” were just discovered by the authorities in Poe’s infamous story. The difference is, there is a live video feed present, and it projects back blurry images of the viewers. Oh, and there’s no murder (that I’m aware of). There’s no beating heart here, but there is a secret under the floorboards, and that secret just so happens to be a distorted view of you.
There is also a chance to tune into Lee Tusman’s “Black Spot Radio”. This alternative radio station within an alternative art space exists under a tent-like, cloth overhang which makes it seem part guerilla encampment and part Boy Scout outing. Sitting inside the tent, the audio is quiet, but close behind the seating area is a stereo discussing economics and whatever else happens to be stored on the cassette tapes at hand.
Also in the show are paintings by Alana Bogrod, dresses and fabric work by Colleen McCormack and Eileen Doyle, video installations by Masha Badinter and Marshall Kavanaugh, a long tapestry by Samantha Reedy, and some dangling alarm clocks by Andy Moholt. Tomorrow, Aug. 18, is the last day for this show. Gallery hours are 12-5pm.
And make sure to stay tuned for Beth Heinly’s PRRRSONA which opens at Little Berlin on September 7, an installation inspired by YouTube featuring artists Ann Hirsch, Bunny Rogers, Liz Rywelski, and Petra Cortright.
