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Friday, April 20, 2012

Visual Art Currently Hanging: Melissa Stern's Sculptures with Voices

Posted by Jen Graves on Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 2:46 PM

ANGRY GIRL BY MELISSA STERN This sculpture is made of clay, paint, and glass eyes, and is 40 inches tall. Accompanying it at Fetherston Gallery is a QR code that links to Danielle Truscotts short story made for the sculpture, read by the actor Paula Redinger.

Courtesy the artist and Fetherston Gallery
ANGRY GIRL BY MELISSA STERN This sculpture is made of clay, paint, and glass eyes, and is 40 inches tall. Accompanying it at Fetherston Gallery is a QR code that links to Danielle Truscott's short story made for the sculpture, read by the actor Paula Redinger.

Unfortunately, I did not make it to Melissa Stern's recent show at Capitol Hill's Fetherston Gallery until the gallery was taking down the sculptures, earlier this week. I am sorry about that, but you can still see the pieces, Betsy Fetherson tells me, because they will be in the basement room of the gallery for a while still. I recommend doing that.

The way the sculptures work is that they come with QR codes printed and pasted on the wall next to them. When you put your phone up to scan the QR code, you are directed to an audio file your phone plays, of an actor reading a story written especially for that sculpture. (If you don't have a phone, no problem. The gallery has a little audio player with headphones you can use for free.) The series is called The Talking Cure. (Stern's Kickstarter page for the project is here.)

Sculptures with stories, music with stories—any of these interpretive dances can go terribly wrong. But while I didn't get to experience all of the pieces in The Talking Cure, several had me riveted. The storytellers revealed the sculptures slowly, detail by detail, with their unfolding narratives. I heard, then saw more, then heard more, then saw more.

I'll attach the QR code for this one, along with two more sets of sculptures and their stories, on the jump.

This is the QR code for Angry Girl.

Friends, made of clay, graphite, paint, and objects, is 18 1/2 inches tall.

Courtesy the artist and Fetherston Gallery
Friends, made of clay, graphite, paint, and objects, is 18 1/2 inches tall.

This is the QR code for Friends. The story was written and read by Janet Grillo.

Courtesy the artist and Fetherston Gallery
This is the QR code for Friends. The story was written and read by Janet Grillo.

Courtesy the artist and Fetherston Gallery
Gawker, made of clay, paint, graphite, and glass eyes, and standing 40 inches tall.

The story for Gawker was written by Annie Nocenti and is read by Eli Gelb.

Courtesy the artist and Fetherston Gallery
The story for Gawker was written by Annie Nocenti and is read by Eli Gelb.

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Um, you know that a QR code is just a link, right? They're meant for adding links to real-world objects (like museum walls). Putting a QR code on a web page makes no sense at all. Just put the link.

#qrcodefail

http://wtfqrcodes.com/

Posted by Fnarf