The new ‘Charles Hollstroem: Half Fiction’ exhibit at the Institute for Contemporary Art is particularly unique because it is both visually and physically stimulating. While most art engages only the eyes, Hollstroem engages the entire body by creating a disorienting journey that is itself the artwork.
The first part of the exhibit consists of a kind of a maze that the museumgoer must travel through in complete darkness. After the long, dark tunnel, white light eventually cameexcept this white light happened to be two huge sheets of flashing light bulbs. In the final phase of the exhibit, you wear a pair of glasses with lenses that each contain an LCD monitor. This actively pulls the viewer into the exhibit.
The two monitors show two separate films of a snowy forest. As the eyes are given two different stimuli simultaneously, the brain must figure out which scene to focus on. The result is a constantly changing visual puzzle.
The exhibition is exciting and even a little challenging. Using his scientific backgroundhe has a Ph.D. in agricultural scienceHollstroem constructs a world that relies more on science than on art, that tests the senses and distorts conventional perceptions of the light and dark.
The entire exhibit feels more like a psychological experiment than an artistic expression. The title of the exhibit, though, is ‘Half Fiction.’ This is not a scientific exhibition as much as it is a lens through which one may explore the mind. The true art of the exhibition lies in the viewer’s journey.
The Charles Hollstroem exhibition runs until April 27 at the Institute for Contemporary Art, located at 955 Boylston St., at the Hynes Convention Center T-stop. Tickets are $5 for students. Visit the ICA website at www.icaboston.org for further information.
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