Digital Studies Profs Blend Tech and Art to Reflect Modern Life
Two Digital Studies professors are for their digital art, which encourages viewers to interact with鈥攁nd reflect on鈥攁n interconnected world.
Joelle Dietrick, assistant professor of digital studies, and Owen Mundy, visiting assistant professor of digital studies, are husband and wife and artistic collaborators.
Their joint show, 鈥溾 will be on view in the Van Every/Smith Galleries from Aug. 26 to Sept. 25.
The Observer writes, 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 art you buy to hang over your sofa.鈥
Dietrick and Mundy鈥檚 most recent works are closer to video games than to images.
For example, their piece, 鈥淭he Speed of Thinking鈥 recalls 1980s arcade classic 鈥淭etris.鈥
鈥淚t allows players to plunk colorful, virtual steel boxes onto a cargo ship,鈥 writes Paige Leggett for the Observer. 鈥淓ach one lands with a thud. The boxes just keep coming鈥攁nd with increasing velocity. They threaten to sink the ship before it even leaves port. The player slowly realizes the game doesn鈥檛 end until it crashes (as it鈥檚 designed to do), and the player finds out he or she didn鈥檛 prevent sea levels from rising鈥
Dietrick and Mundy hope their art encourages viewers to think about the global supply chains that surround them鈥攁nd how they fit in this new world.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping our art will make people pause and think: Are the systems we鈥檙e using really the best available?鈥
The opening reception is scheduled from 7-8:30 p.m. Sept. 4. Dietrick and Mundy also will host a panel discussion during Common Hour on Tuesday, Sept. 17.
