Over the next few days, Visual Studies Workshop (31 Prince Street) is offering a set of engaging shows and events. On Wednesday, November 30, check out "Bad Objects: A Night of New Media from RIT." Taking place from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the VSW Auditorium, the one-night show explores digital art and new media, featuring interactive performances, media installations, and technological experimentations by local, national, and international artists.
Guest-curated by Charles Baldwin, RIT associate professor of the Department of English, and Charlie Roberts, RIT assistant professor in the School of Interactive Games and Media, the show's featured artists are Josephine Anstey, Sandy Baldwin, Al Biles, Michelle Harris, Charlie Roberts, Rick Scott, and Gabriel Tremblay-Gaudette. There is a suggested donation of $5.
VSW will also host a First Friday event on December 2, at 5:30 p.m. Project Space Artist-in-Residence Dan Larkin will discuss his analog photo project, "Take Me to the River," with VSW Director Tate Shaw. Larkin's project, which has been in progress in the space since October, explores the growth and development of Rochester based on its proximity to the Genesee River and how its importance has ebbed and flowed over time.
- PHOTO PROVIDED
- Installation view of Dan Larkin's "Take Me to the River," in Visual Studies Workshop's Project Space.
Larkin created a series, over many years, of photographs shot no more than 500 feet from the river throughout Rochester. He spent his time at VSW editing the images into a coherent body of work for the exhibition capping his residency and for the layout of a future book.
"The entire body of work was shot with film, and I have literally hundreds of prints in varying sizes that I've made in the color darkroom, a rarity in this digital age," Larkin says in a provided statement. "I learned much about the natural and cultural heritage of my home town from the time exploring these 'pleasant banks' -- the literal translation of the Seneca Nation's moniker, 'Genesee.'"
Also on Friday, December 2, is the opening reception for "Land Form," from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the gallery and auditorium, featuring photographic prints, sculptures, and digital pieces by Thomas Albdorf, Lionel Bayol-Themines, Martin Brink, Mark Dorf, Katie Efstathiou, Carolyn Janssen, Anastasia Samoylova, and Gary Metz.
The show, organizers say, represents "a contemporary shift in landscape depiction." In these works, a completely human-altered landscape is experienced through layers of technological mediation, providing a fragmented sense of reality.
Additionally, VSW has invited local artists Laurie O'Brien, Alysia Kaplan, Ashwin Manthripragada, Tara and Gordon Nelson, Dan Varenka, Evelyne Leblanc-Roberge, and CHB x, who work in film, video, light, sound, and performance, to exhibit media installations around VSW as part of the exhibition.
"Land Form" continues through March 18, 2017, although the media installations will only be on view through December 10. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, noon to 7 p.m. and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call 442-8676 or visit VSW.org.
