This week I went to MoMA on 53rd st. to experience the Liquid Reality exhibit created by Shigeko Kubota. Having never been to the museum before I found myself searching for the exhibit for quite some time. This was actually great for me because I got a chance to view tons of other interesting work before finally arriving to Kubota’s exhibit, which was located at gallery 414. I didn’t know much about the artist or her work other than a brief description of her style on the  MoMA website. I did know that the galleries description along with the title of Liquid Reality sounded strange and appealing to me. The description noted the artist’s work to revolve around concepts of technology, nature, time and light. While this was all pretty vague to me, I was pleasantly surprised when I viewed the work and found it to be intriguing, playful, pleasing to the eye and contain a quality of interactivity. 

It was very clear from viewing the work that the artist was fascinated with video and how it could be manipulated, interpreted and heightened through the use of reflective materials as well as natural elements.  The first piece that I noticed was a series of obtuse video screens, suspended in colored glass, propped up perpendicular to a rectangular pool of water. The piece seemed to be making use of so many things at once: the light from the ever-changing distorted screens, the transparency of the glass and the outside environment, the shimmers of colored Reflection off the pool of water, and the sharp green glow that bounced off of the liquid that projected onto the floor of the exhibit. 

This was followed by a piece that consisted of flat, black, chromed sculpture on the ground. Above it was a suspended, space-aged orb with a small video monitor playing under it reflecting off of the black sculpture. The Kubrick-esque orb swung from a rope of wires, constantly distorting the image reflected from the chrome structure. When I finally placed myself in a good position to view the moving image, I realized that the video was of me looking down searching for it.  

There was a piece that appeared to be a wooden pyramid with the tip missing. As I approached the piece I noticed kids and other museum attendants struggling to peer over at the opening of the pyramid to snap an iPhone picture. When I got as close as humanly possible too the piece (literally touching it) I saw that inside this pyramid was a kaleidoscopic array of mirrors and colored light. It then became clear that the purpose intended was for the viewer to have to lean over the piece in order to view what was inside. 

The overall experience was thought provoking, but still very fun in a traditional sense. I got the feeling that the artist wanted a certain reaction from the viewer that strayed from the run of the mill, scratch your chin and and raise one eyebrow. The viewer was meant to discover ideas and different levels of reality being expressed through the process of the viewing the art.