THE WEEK OF
March 12, 2003
Theater: Bridesmaids unite
ICA exhibit
Datebook
Theater: The immigrant experience
Society
ICA artists-in-residence demonstrate high-tech techniques
By Estelle Pagnoux
A visit to the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art demonstrates it's impossible to ignore the influence of Silicon Valley's largest industry. And why shouldn't technology impact the evolution of art? After all, it seams to have seeped into every other corner of modern-day life. The concept of the collage may not be cutting edge, but that won't stop today's artists from adopting new tools to create new art.

"Bytes & Pieces: The Art of Contemporary Collage," on display at the Institute of Contemporary Art through April 5, brings to the forefront current interpretations of modern collage, most of which benefit from the modern-day technologies of video imaging, scanners, computers and software programs.

Photograph courtesy of the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art
'Entropy 2002,' a digital photo collage by Diane Cassidy, is one of the works on display at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art during the 'Bytes & Pieces: The Art of Contemporary Collage' exhibit.

Television screens flash with fast-changing images incorporating matching sounds; images projected on one wall move quickly while several three-dimensional, hologram-like collages challenge the eye to catch their every move. Light boxes project unidentifiable objects, and an accompanying description explains that every frame from the movie Psycho has been collapsed, or collaged, to create a single image.

The work on display may stand on its own, but a combination of efforts—from a mainstream art museum, one corporate donor and a couple of key art supply vendors—is bringing several of the artists to the ICA to further explain how the art was created. Four days a week through March 29, four artists will demonstrate just how their chosen medium was manipulated to produce such a display.

For the first time, the ICA presents an artist-in-residence program, welcoming Diane Fenster, Helen Golden, Lyn Bishop and Susan Felter to San Jose for informal mini workshops with the public. Attendees can interact with the artist, ask questions and see firsthand how computers, imaging hardware and software are changing a traditional form of art called the collage.

ICA Executive Director Cathy Kimball knew that exposure to the artists could only help the public's understanding of a form that is not yet widely understood or accepted in the art world. Fascinated by the process of creating such high-tech original art, Kimball visited the artists' studios to learn how they were putting technology to work for themselves and realized the only way to grasp the technique was to watch it being done. Hence the artists-in-residence program was born.

"The more we know about the process, the greater the appreciation for the art," says Kimball. "People need to see these demonstrations; I thought it would elevate the work in the gallery."

The remaining demonstrations feature the following artists: Helen Golden, March 11­15, Lyn Bishop, March 18­22, and Susan Felter, March 25­29.

Admission to the Institute of Contemporary Art is free. Call 408.283.8155 or visit www.sjica.org for more information.