Act /React-Milwaukee Art Mueeum

The Act/React show at the Milwaukee Art Museum turned out to be a pleasant surprise as did the museum itself. Once past the cold exterior of the building the inside changes into a place that is varied and inviting. If anything the show was a reflection of the contrasts that could be found inside the rest of the museum. Rooms with large expanses sit next to small carpeted spaces and going from one display to the next feels like a journey through time. I decided to view Act/React twice with time spent at the rest of the museum in between. My planned one hour visit turned into three. While looking at a painting by a french impressionist who's work hung next to a Renoir, but who's name escapes me, I noticed that the thickly applied paint produced a shimmering effect in some areas of the canvas. The painting is of some boats on a river on a sunny day and as I moved slightly in front of it the painting seemed to have a life of its own by giving the impression of the sun beating down on the water. This sparked my interest into the use of the the word "interactive". After a while I found my way back to the Act/React exhibit.

Brian Kneps exhibit entitled "Healing #1" is a display that rests on the floor as it reacts to the footsteps left by those who walk on it. Stepping on the surface displaces objects that appear to be organic or biological. The combination of orange and yellow cells reminded me of close-up photographs of the photosphere of the sun with the granules on the surface constantly changing over time. It's not surprising that Knep has worked with the likes of Industrial Light and Magic. At one point one of the gallery guards got on the floor for a spin. This exhibit is a reminder that everything in the universe is connected and moving at the same time. Looking at Kneps other work there seems to be a consistency in his use of organic imagery as opposed to the actual use of organic material that could be found in Liz Phillips fascinating but frustrating Echo Evolution. Phillips exhibit was simply in need of more. More neon, more sounds, more activity. This was the exhibit I was most draw to but it needed some fine-tuning. Kneps "Healing" on the other hand gives a sense of completion and simplicity, whereas Phillips display was more ambitious in design. Phillips use of metallic dissonant sounds was a perfect contrast to the inviting glow of neon glass, both of which were triggered by motion sensors.

The first time I heard the phrase "interactive cinema" was several years ago when reading an interview of french video-game producer David Cage. Cage was commenting on his successes and failures with his game Fahrenheit, better known as Indigo Prophesy in the U.S. Cage decided that the best way to make his games interactive was to connect to the player/viewer on an emotional level by getting them involved in a story that has to come to a conclusion. Having the player play the role of a number of different characters worked remarkably well. Cages' company Quantic Dream knows they are onto something and it's not surprising that they only produce one game every 5 years dispite employing hundreds of people, many of whom are artists. Cage even went so far as to hire composer Angelo Badelementi to do the soundtrack for Fahrenheit. This raises the issue brought up by Roger Ebert as to whether video games are art. Ebert feels that video games are inferior to traditional art because the viewer/player is making choices. I believe it's a non-issue because video-games, like music videos needed a genre they could call their own. Music videos were perfected to a certain extent in the 1980's whereas video-games are in their infancy because of the technical challenges. One thing that sets video games apart from other creative projects is that they are made for movement so the possibilities are endless as to how the "game" engines can be used. I can't help but think that all art is interactive in one way or another after my visit to MAM. Kneps' Healing Pool is an example of a work that goes one step further than traditional art in it's level of interactivity but can't, in fairness, be compared to a video game as an art object.

The Act/React show is both thought provoking and fun. While the exhibits provide a sense of completion it may be much harder to achieve with other forms of creativity. All in all the exhibit raises ones awareness of the nature of interactivity in its' different forms.