Tyler Kline’s “Cities of the Red Night” at Little Berlin is almost a tribute to the insane drama and goofy production values of Ed Wood’s science fiction. The interior is transformed into a maze of foil walls hiding oddly-sequestered viewing rooms that create the illusion of isolation. The foil waves and creaks in each slight breeze, creating a vortex of movement and sound behind everyone who passes. While sitting or standing with each piece, the eeriness of being lightly buffeted by these almost living walls never left me.
Katie Dillon’s installation at Little Berlin will make you a star (or at least as insecure as one.)
The work from the eight artists included all circles around ideas of society in decay and recovery. The first video on display is by Damon Ayers and it documents an abandoned communist airstrip in East Berlin that is being reclaimed by residents as a communal space filled with athletics, activities and community gardens. The scenery is relentlessly bleak, but the activities are universally life-affirming: playing games, roller skating, flying kites. The lovely, jazzy soundtrack by Tessie Word emphasizes this marriage of grey dissolution being reclaimed by vibrant life.
Jim Huebotter’s Mind Machine in action.
Katie Dillon’s installation invites the viewer to step into the spotlight where she is blinded, unable to identify the whispering and malicious audience of speakers. Ryan Spring Dooley’s video animation is lavish with details and transformations that fly too fast to capture. Dooley’s theme seems to be that the further you go, the closer you are to home. And the video imagery is rich with ideas of flight, escape, and return. Jim Huebotter contributed a couple of light and sound pieces that attempt to induce a dream-like state or ephemeral visions. One is a headset that projects light onto the user’s closed eyelids that the artist made from instructions in Make Magazine (with some adjustments.) Overall, curator Tyler Kline, who also has work in the show, has created an artist’s funhouse, playing with space and sound and light. Other artists included are Sean Stoops, Joseph Moore, and Sam Belkowitz.
