Fracturing the Burning Glass: Between Mirror and Meaning
January 26 - April 10
Opening Reception, January 27, 5:00-8:00pm
Gwenäel Bélanger • Susan Leopold • Daniel Rozin • Alyson Shotz
The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art (ICA at MECA) will present Fracturing the Burning Glass: Between Mirror and Meaning, an exhibition that examines perception through the manipulation of reflectivity, both metaphoric and corporeal. An opening reception will take place Thursday, January 27, 5 – 8 pm.
Fracturing the Burning Glass highlights the work of Gwenaël Bélanger (Montreal), Susan Leopold (New York), Daniel Rozin (New York), and Alyson Shotz (New York). The exhibition includes sculptural installation, photography, video, and mechanical and digital interactive media. Artists’ screenings and educational programming will occur throughout the run of the exhibition, including video works by Sue de Beer, Mircea Cantor and Körner Union.
From classical antiquity to cutting edge science, mirrors have enhanced our understanding of physical phenomena, inspired stories and superstitions, and provided a space in which to view our own image. Inherent properties of reflection are both mathematically precise and perceptually disorienting; the same light reflected in a mirror may guide a ship to safety or burn it to cinders. Navigating the disparity between the actual and the understood, the artists in this exhibition break the plane of the mirror, suggesting that illumination comes not always from what is reflected, but from what light slips through the cracks.
Review by Dan Kany in Maine Sunday Telegram
Review by Nicholas Schroeder in the Portland Phoenix
Fracturing the Burning Glass featured on 207
Related Artists’ Screenings on selected Thursdays. Start time is 6pm and all screenings will be shown in a loop throughout the hour:
February 17: Sue de Beer: Making Out With Myself, 1997
March 17: Mircea Cantor: The Landscape is Changing, 2003
April 7: Körner Union: Music video for Larytta: Souvenir de Chine, 2008
The ICA at MECA is open Wednesday through Sunday, 11:00 - 5:00, Thursday 11:00-7:00, and on First Friday 11:00-8:00
Support for Fracturing the Burning Glass: Between Mirror and Meaning is provided by Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Flatbread Company and Portland Color. This exhibition is curated by Linda L. Lambertson.