The visual arts department displayed a weeklong public exhibit produced by Honors Senior Seminar Video Art students titled “Option G” in Feldman-Horn Gallery from April 15 to April 18. The projects were created by 10 seniors and featured immersive video experiences through audio mixing and visual set design. The exhibit also included a collaborative project from all seniors, as well as a production by Visual Arts Teacher Reb Limerick.
A video installation is created when a viewing experience is further enhanced through thematic set design with the use of props, visual effects and backdrop choice, according to Limerick. For the third quarter project, Limerick said her goal was for her students to engage viewers in their video through their installation.
“They really have to think about how to take a video and bring it into three-dimensional space.” Limerick said. “When [viewers] are in each person’s world, hopefully they are fully immersed.”
In an exhibit that was unguided and open, Limerick said that she emphasized conveying effective, short visuals over a traditional viewing experience.
“They have [to know] that the audience is going to enter at any point in the loop and then leave whenever they want,” Limerick said. “All of them have to have some sort of looping quality. That’s going to force it to be maybe a little less narrative. Because when we sit down for Westflix, or in a movie theater watching something, you assume somebody’s going to watch it through from start to finish.”
Video Art seniors Max Dessner ’24 and Jacob Lutsky ’24, who collaborated on their project titled “Singing in the Shower,” built a replica of Dessner’s shower in the gallery in accompaniment with their video project. In the video, Dessner is seen fully dressed taking a shower while singing along to “Time of the Season” by The Zombies.
Lutsky, the videographer for Dessner, said the inspiration for his project with Dessner is to show significance of how a shower is a carefree and personal space.
“It kind of started as [an] idea where he’s going into the shower to drown out the pressures from the outside world,” Lutsky said. “By the end, it became more like, everyone has their own metaphorical shower. In our description, we’re encouraging people to dance and feel comfortable being in that shower.”
Likewise, Dessner said he wanted to convey the intimacy and privacy of his shower in his acting, as well as in the construction of the installation in the gallery.
“The shower we made is physical in nature itself,” Dessner said. “Once you step into this one, it’s just highlighting one aspect of being alone. It’s like the one kind of sacred space you have in your life where you’re alone every time and you can do whatever you want.”
For their last Video Art project, the seniors will create a senior thesis film, which embodies more of a traditional viewing experience and will be screened in Rugby Auditorium on May 30, according to Limerick.
