An exhibition examining the use of adaptation in recent video art is currently on view at the University of Washington’s Henry Art Gallery. Simply titled Adaptation, the show explores questions of fidelity and creativity that arise when a practice common to commercial film, television and other forms of pop culture appears in contemporary art. The exhibition is curated by Stephanie Smith of the Smart Museum of Art, and includes works by Arturo Herrera (Season 3), Catherine Sullivan (Season 4), Guy Ben-Ner, and Eve Sussman & The Rufus Corporation.
Herrera’s two-channel video installation Les Noces (2007) is a digital reworking of Igor Stravinsky’s 1923 ballet by the same title. The video features Herrera’s abstracted black-and-white drawings projected onto multiple screens and animated in direct relationship to the notes of the modernist musical composition.
Sullivan’s Triangle of Need combines “Neanderthals, e-mail scams, and figure skating in scenes set in lush and mysterious environments, [conveying] difficult and abstract ideas about evolution, human behavior, and social inequality.” Triangle of Need screens Tuesday–Sunday at 11am, 12pm, 2pm, 3pm, and 4pm, with additional screenings on Thursday evenings. Click here for the full schedule of screenings. The exhibition runs through March 22, 2009.
The Henry Art Gallery Adaptation YouTube Challenge invites Henry staff members to curate a short playlist of videos with the theme of adaptation. Each playlist is featured on the Henry Website with a brief curator’s statement. Visit the Gallery’s YouTube channel and follow their Twitter tweets.