On Saturday, March 26, 2011, I went to the UCI/ Beall Center for Art + Technology. I saw three large sculptures there made from inflatable materials.The three sculptures were named Bird, Inner Space, and BioMorphic. All three of the sculptures impressed me. When you stand next to them, lights turn on and highlight various aspects in a mostly darkened display room.
When I walked in there, I first saw what looked like big letter M’s hanging up. I didn’t recognize them as anything else until I stood next to them and the lights turned on. Then I could see by the reflection of the light that the M’s were actually flying birds. When the lights dimmed again, the birds returned to letter M’s. After this dramatic event, I noticed the information plaque which called them “Bird.” Amazing!
After I saw birds, I moved on to the Inner Space sculpture. I didn’t recognize it as anything until I read the information plaque. It looked confusing to me at first until the lights went on, then the sculpture took on the look of a NASA space station. It felt like I could go inside it and walk around.
The last piece, the BioMorphic, was part of an ongoing work exploring the forms, movements, and interaction of our human experience. The design wasin the shape of a molecular pattern, in a geometric construction that represented the structure that underlies life. This was a new piece that reminded me of a human form with arms and legs splayed out as though reaching for some secret robotic meaning.
Overall, I thought it was a wonderful museum project that I attended. It was interesting to see only three pieces in this museum. Beall Center for Art + Technology didn’t look like LACMA or the Norton Simon Museum that I visited before. This was a very small museum that is in the process of expanding. This place seemed more like a college theatre than a museum.
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