The title of this show in the Marsh Gallery
at the Herron School of Art and Design is
Connection: Exploring Interpersonal Communication.
I had seen some of the artists installing the exhibit
a few days earlier and was glad I returned.
The theme of their work was based in their attempts
to gain an understanding of the ways people
interact with each other, specifically through
social media, e-mail and text messaging.
What I found fascinating, and ironic,
was much of the exhibit was hand-made.
While the artists definitely used electronic imaging
and printing for elements of their exhibit,
a lot of the pieces were hand-cut, the colored thread
used to create connections was pinned by
industrious hands, and the notes left by visitors
were virtually all hand-written.
The immediacy of the hand-made conveys
an intimacy that is lost in the electronic media.
While we may communicate with thousands
of folks each day, people tend to feel
a certain safety, an anonymity in e-messages
that has proven to be illusory: people write
mean and hurtful things on the social media,
things they would not think of writing on paper.
Conversely, folks who develop on-line ties
very often exist in comparative isolation, unable to engage in
actual interpersonal action, a lonely existence, for sure.
I wonder, however, whether anyone will read
all of the notes that have been left?
Will they be able to categorize and form
any conclusions from the little pieces of paper?
Eye catching and thought provoking!
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