Page 77 - David Bermant Foundation

EXHIBITIONSExcErpt from “today’s machinEs”P.U.L.S.E. CatalogBy Tom Finkelpearl, CuratorThe parameters of this exhibition as stated in the title, “People Using Light, Sound, Energy,” needs a bit of clarification. While all of the artists fall within the stated categories, there is no work that is solely sound or light. These two categories are now important sub- sets of visual arts and music, and there have been major exhibitions in both fields in recent years.P.U.L.S.E. is essentially a sculpture show, artists who create sculptural objects from light, sound, and energy. Light art often tends toward painting, while sound art verges on music. In fact, a more accurate title might be Sculptures Using Light Sound Energy. The only thing constant in P.U.L.S.E. is change.The artists in P.U.L.S.E. do not share a common attitude toward machines and computers. In some work we see the power and brutality of the machine, in others we see the beauty. However, all of the artists have turned to technology (whether low-tech or high- tech) to express themselves. The work seems to divide into three categories: artists who see the power and danger of the machine, those who stress the beauty of technology and those who do not address these issues, but simply explore potential uses of newlyacquired techniques. For these artists, technology is a means to an end, not the subject of their work.Steve Barry, Alice Aycock, Jean Tinguely, and Takis create machines that are at once violent and beautiful. This sort of work appeals to those who admire and/“I have chosen to concentrate a selection of works, so that they represent one facet of the many trends now evident in today’s art. The facet I have chosen is that of “technological art,” which in simple terms, is the use of today’s scientific discoveries—be they materials, relations, or principles—to produce objects of art.”76P.U.L.S.E. – NEw York