Weekend Review: Freewaves New Media Arts Festival

The lights are dim and the low hum coming from the hundreds of
film projectors is jumbled and incoherent. To the left of the
entrance doors is a large projection of a black dog meandering in
the middle of a busy road, dangerously avoiding being hit by
speeding cars. Lining the walls of the upstairs are numerous other
projections, one of which is displaying flashing images of people
and what appear to be nonsense words.

Upstairs a fairly large crowd has gathered around a particular
projection of an expressionless Asian man being slapped on the
cheek over and over again. A few viewers wince, but most just
stare, wide-eyed and solemn, unable to avert their eyes from the
stunningly calm victim of monotonous abuse. And it only gets
weirder.

Freewaves, a media art organization, presented the open-ended
question “Too Much Freedom?” to thousands of artists
around the world, and chose 150 entries for the video and new media
art exhibit. Documentaries, animated film and digital technology
were among the featured works.

The artists responded to the word “freedom” in terms
of political freedom, and most noticeably artistic freedom, as they
created pieces to perplex and challenge the viewer’s take on
reality. Some pieces are so ridiculously illogical they go so far
as to make you wonder: What in the world does that have to do with
freedom?

Another wall displays a large naked man flapping his arms and
jumping up and down in a green field (talk about freedom), a piece
titled “Icarus ““ A Yearning to Fly” by Eva
Drangsholt.

The confusion and bewilderment the artists succeed in evoking is
predictable, seeing that the question “Too Much
Freedom?” challenges the artist to go above and beyond what
is considered conventional art. It is not only the baffling and
nonsensical subject matter, but also the overwhelming context in
which it is presented as an exhibit, that emphasizes the
artists’ attempts to express freedom as something
unlimited.

With video installations lining the walls one after the other,
laptops set on tables, and a few television sets scattered here and
there, the exhibit is overwhelming to say the least ““ there
are too many random images and sounds working to confuse the senses
and mind. But it is clear that the chaotic jumble is no misstep on
the curators’ part (of which there are 10 from multiple
countries around the world). The exhibit is meant to do just that:
confuse.

It is a difficult task to explore such an exhibit; the videos
are continuously running, making it unlikely for a viewer to see a
piece from start to finish, and it is easy to walk past a
projection that at first glance appears dull or repetitive. (How
long can you watch a close-up of a woman chewing gum and blowing
bubbles? The obnoxious smacking sound is enough to make one
cringe.)

Although it may be a challenge to sit through an entire video,
jumping quickly from one scene to the next only increases the
feeling of confusion. In order to truly appreciate the art form,
one has to accept that some of the pieces are literally nonsense
and excruciatingly uneventful. And the endings are so frustratingly
inconclusive it is difficult to decipher where one piece ends and
another begins.

As would be expected from a video/media art exhibit titled
“Too Much Freedom?” (a phrase that dares the artist to
create something that challenges and defies society’s view of
artistry), it is bizarre and provocative, accomplishing what it set
out to do: give artists the chance to express artistic freedom, and
give viewers the chance to experience it.