The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, September 10, 2007 - A
Work Gallery
comes up big
on both sides
of the fence
By ANDREW SARGUS KLEIN
ManagingArts Editor
O nce again, the School of Art
and Design's Work Gallery at
306 State St. quietly houses an
astonishing exhibit without much fan-
fare or advertising.
That's especially
a shame this time The Studio
because this is one of
the strongest, most and the
compelling exhibits Lab: the
they've had in some
time - a fantastic Intersection
start to the year. Of Artand
"The Studio and
the Lab: the Inter- Science
section of Art and
Science" is running Through Oct. 5
through Oct. 5 and
is just as its title says. Al Wtk Gallery
Anyone who's seen 306 State St.
Hubble Telescope
shots of the Helix
Nebula, microphotographs of bacte-
ria or computer-generated paintings
understands there's plenty of creative
inspiration in the scientific world. On
a simple, aesthetic level, science-based
art looks cool.
But this exhibit and its pieces aren't
so simple (though several are certainly
very cool). As the heavily belabored
placards imply, there is a sophisticated
air of interpretation and innovation
throughout the works. There exists
on another level a certain quirkiness,
where serious science is laced with the
peculiar, the personal and the fantas-
tic: sculpture inspired by pregnancy-
induced hallucinations; man's conflict
with nature told through simple, geo-
metric combinations of wood and nails;
and evolution interpreted through con-
struction-paper animation. Both sides
of the exhibit - the artistic and the sci-
entific - are equally accessible.
Works such as the magnetoscope,
which is a beautifully bizarre lesson in
the properties of ferrofluid (magnetic
particles suspended in oil, pictured to
the left) are pureunadulterated science.
It's not necessarily "art," but it's won-
derful and hands-on. But the surreal
"Sarcinae de Corpus," a ceramic sculp-
ture with an accompanying glass tube
of unsettling wax molding, succeeds in
two ways. It's intriguing art and a start-
ing point for dialogue with the viewer
outside of art history-specific tropes
(in this case, disease as it relates to the
mind, the body, social status, etc.).
The exhibit has a personality - an
unusual cohesion. A few feet from the
magnetoscope is a map of Napoleon's
march to Moscow. The march begins
as a thick band representing nearly
500,000 troops. As the march prog-
ress, it slowly narrows, representing
in utmost simplicity the unbelievable
mortality rates of Napoleon's historic
failure. "Neo/Ethnocentrism" is a small
photograph of a globe with the United
States cut out and, with Alaska as the
head, it looks like some sort of duck
walking out -of the globe. The photo
is intimate and personal. The larger
theme of ethnocentrism is scaled down
and unpretentious.
It's a good omen that Work's first
exhibit of the term is as strong as this
one. An exhibit of alum art is set to fol-
low in October, and if it's anything like
"The Studio and the Lab," we're all in
for a treat.
- For more photos, check out our
website at michigandaily.com.
Ferrofluid consists of magnetic particles suspended in oil, Amazing what you can learn at an art exhibit.
Through'Shoot,' a
question of existence
TBy ELIE ZWIEBEL
Daily Arts Writer
It's a rare breed of film that causes us
to question our purpose in life. Hopeful-
ly, we can see such a film coming and pre-
pare ourselves for self-examination and
philosophical postulation. On the night
of Sept. 6 I was caught off guard by the
appropriately titled "Shoot 'Em Up" - so
off guard that I was brought to the brink
of an existential crisis.
After deciding to take the night off
from revelry and schoolwork, boredom
consumed me. I realized I would eventu-
ally have to see "Shoot 'Em Up" as a writ-
er for the Daily, so I indulged the idea of
seeing the movie just before midnight at
our local Cineplex. A plan, a goal, a pur-
pose.
None of my housemates would accom-
pany me, so I drove out to Ypsi by myself.
one of the ticket-takers offered me a
special that would include a ticket to
"Shoot 'em Up," all-I-could-eat pizza and
free video gaming for $15. I graciously
declined only to receive an outburst:
"Then my job is futile!"
As the sole audience member of
the fated Theater 10, I listened to the
National Amusements digital radio ser-
vice encounter difficulties, never getting
more than two minutes into a songbefore
distorting the sound and cutting back to
the beginning of a hellish loop.
Ten minutes after the show was sup-
posed to start, I informed an usher they
were behind schedule. Fifteen minutes
after the show was supposed to start, I let
the concession attendant know - becom-
ing visibly irritated - that they were
behind schedule (the usher, presumably,
had gone home for the night). Twenty-
five minutes after the show was supposed
to start, I angrily complained to the man-
ager they were still behind schedule (he
appeared to be the only one left in the
theater aside from yours truly).
Solitude.
A bad movie.
A life realigned.
Duringthe previews, I started to think:
Why am I putting up with all this? I don't
want to see this movie. I don't really have
to see the movie. And what was up with
See SHOOT Page 9A The man is totally relationship material. He is so comfortable with babies. And hookers