Does the media distort our perception of reality? This is the question the Feb. 23 Baton Rouge Gallery video art show, “Flatscape 2008: Who Writes Our History?” will ask its viewers.
Jason Andreasen, special events coordinator for the Baton Rouge Gallery, said the gallery does an annual video art series called Flatscape. This year’s theme is “Who Writes Our History”?
“‘Who Writes Our History?’ looks at the importance of who instills the news, our culture,” Andreasen said. “Whether it be CNN and Fox News or museums exhibiting art.”
Andreasen said the gallery’s theme is relevant to today’s society.
“Given the times that we’re in, where you have multiple networks that are 24-hour-news channels, the idea of understanding who is writing that newscast is incredibly important,” Andreasen said. “We have to understand that people have their beliefs and their biases, and as much as it is about what news they do show, it’s also about what they don’t show.”
Andreasen said the videos shown on at the Gallery will include the work of Martha Rosler, one of the original video art pioneers from the 1970s.
“She has made an entire career out of looking at the mass media,” Andreasen said. “One of her videos takes a drive through the streets in a neighborhood of San Francisco, looking at graffiti and asking why it isn’t considered art while something a rich person might see in downtown Manhattan is.”
Amelia Cox, executive director of the Baton Rouge Art Gallery, emphasized the importance of the gallery’s special video art display.
“Video art is a cutting-edge art genre that is very difficult to find in Louisiana,” Cox said. “We’re urging people to take advantage of the opportunity to attend ‘Who Writes Our History?’ because not only is it an education but an art form and an experience you can’t get anywhere else.”
Cox said viewers will appreciate the unique feel of video art.
“Video art is non-linear, is not a movie and it’s not a documentary,” Cox said. “It’s using video as an art medium, so things are quirky and things are funny and disturbing and thought-provoking, and most people have never seen anything like it.”
Cox emphasized Flatscape 2008’s tendency to suck the viewer in and make them question what is really going on in the world of media around them.
Christian Guillory, undecided freshman, said Flatscape 2008’s theme presents a very interesting and frightening idea.
“Not many people really consider where the information we see on the television, hear on the radio or read on the Internet is really coming from,” Guillory said. “Most just go with the flow trusting people, trusting these corporations to get their information for the day, no questions asked.”
The show will take place Saturday at the Baton Rouge Art Gallery at 8 p.m. Admission is $5.
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Contact Cathryn Core at [email protected]