If you’re interested in a full sensory experience, you might want to check out the multimedia installation by Andrew Polk that starts Saturday.
Polk, a local artist and UA art professor, will feature a video installation in one of Dinnerware Artspace’s two show rooms.
“”I want (viewers) to be awed, I want them to be overtaken,”” Polk said. “”I also want them to be posing questions.””
Polk will participate in Dinnerware’s ArtSpeak Lecture Series on Nov. 22 at 7 p.m., when he will address his work.
The exhibit, “”Drowning,”” is a multifaceted piece involving multiple projectors and computer monitors. Images will be broadcast around the room, and the room will seem as if spinning. Polk’s goal is to simulate the effect of drowning or being totally overwhelmed.
“”When a person walks into the space, they are totally overtaken, they are totally immersed,”” Polk said.
The piece will involve a video loop lasting for 40 minutes. The video loop will encompass a series of eight shorter pieces. One of the shorter videos shows footage filmed at a mosque in Turkey. The drowning simulation was filmed in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Turkey, near Syria.
There are a number of political and spiritual elements within the piece.
The whole installation takes its name from one portion of the streaming video, which shows waterboarding. Waterboarding is a form of torture where water is constantly poured over a wet towel on top of someone’s head. This method of torture simulates drowning.
“”I hope that any person, no matter what their political stance, is will reframe the way they see things,”” Polk said.
He said a number of the exhibit’s pieces deal with Islam.
“”One of the things I hope people get from this is that there is something really beautiful and wonderful about the Islamic tradition in a Muslim country,”” he said.
Polk said he is not a Muslim, and more of a Christian than anything else.
“”I am not trying to criticize America, but I think that the flag-waving is very beautiful, but it’s also very chaotic,”” he said.
The gallery has chosen to feature the work of Jenene Nagy alongside Polk’s during November and most of December.
Nagy hails from Portland, Ore., and uses bright colors in her site-specific art. The piece Nagy will be doing is considered site-specific because it is spontaneously inspired by and fitted to the space.
She will be coming into the space, taking it in and responding to it, said David Aguirre, executive director of Dinnerware Artspace.
Nagy will be using bright, neon colors to create her interpretation of the space. Nagy’s piece will imply sound, while Polk’s will attempt to overpower.
Nagy will talk about her artwork Saturday in a lecture series at 1 p.m.
Dinnerware Artspace, 264 E. Congress St., is open from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays.
