CADRE at Haldan Art Gallery at Lake Tahoe Community College.

The CADRE display at the Haldan Art Gallery at Lake Tahoe showcases many forms of digital media art. The showing was made up of many artists from the CADRE Laboratory for new Media at San Jose State University. CADRE Laboratory for new Media Academic and Research Program is dedicated to the experimental use of information technology and art. For the past 20 years, faculty and students have participated in the evolution of media technology.

Papal Propagation
By Geri Wittig
The piece Papal Propagation by Geri Wittig was the one I enjoyed the most in the gallery. The display is of an old arcade style video game. On the screen, a video piece is being played on a loop. The video game is decorated with an image of the Pope standing tall like an old superhero. Around the pope are babies of different skin color: black, white and yellow. This is also the skin colors of the world. The Catholic religion has a presence all over the world.  By using this unique way of displaying the video piece, the viewer can get a stronger feeling of what the message of the piece is. The content of the video portion could be displayed by itself (projector or TV), but this unique way of displaying the piece only adds to its sophistication.

The video starts with a piece of fruit with flies landing on it. Above that, the words, “Be Fruitful and Multiply” are shown. This is portraying the message given in the Garden of Eden where the lord gave his blessing to multiply.  The next scene is of the Pope praying with a person that resembles a nun. The video then transitions to the Pope holding a large cross while standing tall behind a map of the world. The map resembles the ones shown in the situation rooms during end of the world drama movies. Every part of the world is show on the map. Objects then start flying at the Pope. The cross he is holding then turns into a gun. The Pope then starts shooting at the objects.

After listening to a podcast interview with the artist Geri Wittig, I now know that the objects flying at the Pope are condoms, and he is shooting holes into them to help populate the earth. As a recovering Catholic and someone that disagrees with many of the Catholic Church policies, I feel that the artist is showcasing these disagreements very creatively. This is a great example of using art to show disapproval of something.

Taliban Hands
By Joe DeLappe
The piece Taliban Hands by Joe DeLappe is not the kind of work that most would think belongs in a of digital media showing. Taliban Hands is a part of a larger display, The Terrorist Other.  The piece is a pair of hands made of white corrugated plastic. The hands are approximately four feet in length. In 2011, the piece was created as an extracted and appropriated from the Medal of Honor first person shooter video game.

As said in the display notes, “50% of full time online gamers effectively role-play as terrorists.” Why is that?  You would think that in today’s world of Pro-America that such action would be anti-American. Is this an attempt to better understand the enemy or is this the same thrill that some felt being a bad guy? The ones we hate and want to kill are always the ones we want to better understand.

The use of hands with technology has a certain irony. The same hands used by young boys playing hours of their favorite shooter games are the same ones used in combat. The same finger used to pull the trigger on the game controller is the same one used on a rifle. Are we conditioning our youth for war? As said in the controversial book, Generation Kill, many of the young Marines first reaction to combat was, “it was just like a video game.”

The two pieces I chose to critique vary it their complexity. At the root of each piece is a desire to bring attention to a problem or controversy.   Art has the power in any form to do that.