UPDATE (2/10/22): Events surrounding the Pulse Art + Technology Festival will now take place from March 2-5. They were originally postponed due to a spike in COVID cases due to the omicron variant.
2022 marks fifteen years of PULSE — the Jepson Center’s annual art and technology show celebrating cutting edge mixed media and up-and-coming contemporary artists.
This year’s theme is “Beyond.” And though lectures and in-person events have been postponed until March 2, the main exhibits still go up this Thursday.
Harry DeLorme, senior curator of education for Telfair Museums, has curated the show since its beginning and remains optimistic about this year’s offerings. PULSE 2022 represents 14 works from East Coast artists ranging from Brooklyn, Baltimore, Savannah, and Sarasota.
Credit: Image courtesy the artist and C. Grimaldis Gallery
Credit: Image courtesy the artist and C. Grimaldis Gallery
“Something I enjoy about this particular show is giving local audiences a first-look at new technologies in art as they come along,” said DeLorme. “In new media, technology changes, and so do the tools, and these changes make for innovation and new conversations in art.”
South Korean-born and Baltimore-based artist, Chul-Hyun Ahn, makes art with LED lights, one-way mirrors, and sculptural elements to create a visceral, mesmerizing experience of the infinite. But where other artists in the past have constructed full rooms with lights and mirrors, Ahn creates smaller works where the viewer stands separate and gazes into mirrors and lights.
Credit: Image courtesy the artist and C. Grimaldis Gallery
Credit: Image courtesy the artist and C. Grimaldis Gallery
“Space is perceived by all of the senses, but I am particularly concerned with visual perception,” said Ahn. “…My hope is that the sculptures act as a threshold to this undefined space, where the viewer can travel mentally, spiritually, emotionally...This is the crux of the work, the audience must bring themselves to the threshold and confront the infinite space to complete the work.”
Removing boundaries and playing with light are his tricks to get viewers tapping into their own limitlessness while remaining separate from the installation. Personal meaning, then, comes from experiencing and negotiating the dualities of everything vs. nothing, connection vs. separation.
Savannah-based artists Teri Yarbrow and Max Almy, who’ve worked together for more than 20 years, have a collaborative piece in the show. “Elysium” pays homage to all recently departed souls, whether COVID-related or not. The gold-shimmering work stretches floor to ceiling and includes an LED candle-lit alter surrounded by a series of boxes.
Credit: Courtesy of artists
Credit: Courtesy of artists
The largest, well-patinaed metal boxes showcase videos with hints of forms shifting and dissolving. An etheric soundtrack performed by Janinto accompanies the work.
“With this we wanted to connect with the energy of the departed,” emphasized Yarbrow. “For me, art has always been a vehicle for deep connection and sacred space for being able to feel feelings and feel ok about expressing emotion as it is. 'Elysium' provides a space for one to enter into for contemplation and release.”
The work was originally part of a show a few years ago in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the Current Festival, but Yarbrow wanted to repurpose and tailor a new iteration specifically for PULSE 2022.
Brooklyn-based, Aiden Lincoln Fowler, spent most of 2020 and 2021 in his room refining mirrors and lights for his thesis project at NYU’s TISCH School of the Arts. With grad and undergrad degrees in computer science and electrical engineering, Fowler’s background gives his work a thoughtful synthesis of art and science.
“Infinite Reflections” is 26-inches by 26-inches with 14,000 LED lights pulsing in programed animation. A convex mirror is positioned in back. PULSE 2022 is his first museum show.
“I wanted the piece to be hypnotizing in a way that it puts you in the present moment,” explained Fowler. “The LED animation draws the viewer in, and there’s a sense of being lost in it. I like using technology, which often scatters and divides us, to instead focus us on the present. And I feel blessed for my work to have been discovered for this show.”
Credit: Courtesy of artist
Credit: Courtesy of artist
On Jan. 20 at 6 p.m., Delorme hosts an online streaming teaser for a sneak peek at the galleries where he’ll also announce PULSE’s revised schedule of events. Until then, then galleries remain open for regular museum admission.
“We’re all doing our best to move beyond the pandemic,” contemplated Delorme.
“These works integrate software, sculptural objects, and science, so much more, and have the ability to transport the viewer. PULSE 2022 is an opportunity to see beyond, and we invite everyone to spend a little time getting some transcendence from the current state of things.”
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: PULSE goes 'Beyond' to celebrate its 15th year in Savannah at Telfair Museums
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