A new art exhibit is on display in the University Art Gallery located in the Walter F. Dexter Building (BLDG 34) from Oct. 12 through Dec. 9.
The exhibit, entitled “Lifelike,” expands on the ideas in curator Katie Peyton Hofstadter’s 2022 essay “Bodies on the Blockchain” and explores the relationship between the human body and technology.
“There are a lot of artists who make art about technology,” Hofstadter said at the exhibit’s open reception. “What sets these artists apart is they’re putting themselves on the line. They’re actually using their own bodies to make this work.”
The exhibit features the work of 10 artists as well as an interactive display of several of the pieces presented by EPOCH. Viewers can click through with a mouse or a touch screen or experience via virtual reality.
Among the pieces, which are all projected onto the walls of the gallery or displayed on TV screens, there is a virtual sculpture generated from brain waves, tattoos that use blood rather than ink and cans of human excrement. Full descriptions of all the pieces on display can be found on the program.
Computer science junior Sigourney Scott said she wasn’t sure what to expect going in, but once she went through the exhibit, she said it was very evocative.
“I’m really intrigued by a lot of the different art pieces,” Scott said. “I think it’s interesting how there’s definitely a connecting thread between all of them but they’re so different.”
Beyond the art on display, the exhibit will also feature live artist workshops and performances, the Cal Poly University Art Gallery announced in a press release.
On Oct. 13 from 4-6 p.m., Edgar Fabián Frías hosted a workshop on the power and presence of performance art at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art. Then on Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m. and Nov. 16 at 11 a.m., Sammie Veeler will be performing at the Center for Expressive Technologies located in the William and Linda Frost Center for Research and Innovation (BLDG 181).
More information about the exhibit can be found on the University Art Gallery’s website.