By Michael Abatemarco
It’s a long-held trope that the natural and artificial — or the organic and inorganic — are diametrically opposed. But local new media artist Joel Hobbie’s seven sculptures on view in the exhibit Interstitial can serve to remind us that the separation is a superficial one, and maybe even arbitrary. Everything, after all, from the roots and limbs of the nearest tree to the most advanced computer processor, comes from the stars.
Interstitial is an interactive exhibit. Parts of each of the seven kinetic sculptures move in reaction to the presence of the viewer. But it isn’t motion sensors that cause the reactions. It’s iris scans and facial recognition technology. In essence, these sculptures are seeing you.
In appearance, each one looks like a hybrid of the spindly branches of treelike forms, robotic elements, lenses, and other devices — as though they were the product of some mad experiment in merging organic life forms and synthetics. In a way, that’s what they are — except that the scientific mind behind these anomalies is Hobbie.
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