From past to future generations: UPHEAVAL ArtStreet installation preview
By: Raymond Mahar – Staff Writer
Sometimes our experiences can be dramatically brutal, and our worlds are vigorously cruel. Fear becomes an unsustainable way of living, as a restless anger builds. It is at this climax we undergo a violent, sudden change of perception.
UPHEAVAL, the fourth installation in the Artstreet White Box Gallery series, captures this reality.
“When the world we know has been removed, taken away from, or simply consumed—and the reality that fear cannot be the only livable choice—society’s reaction is one of sudden change or disruption. This is UPHEAVAL,” explained ArtStreet Associate Director Adrienne Ausdenmoore.
The social and cultural climate observed in the exhibition stems from its predecessor, FEAR. Students will have the opportunity to experience a responsive exhibit utilizing a narrative technique that fosters a community valuing both past and present influences.
“UPHEAVAL is a continuation off of FEAR, wherein at the end of fall semester, the gallery has reached a point of emptiness and void, and as we move into the spring, we are engaging a localized look at a national tipping point for protest, perspective and social change as it relates to the University of Dayton’s future in reflection of the University of Dayton’s past. It’s about regaining voice and resource,” ArtStreet Director Brian LaDuca said.
Every gallery from this year’s IAN Installation Series challenges the individual to participate in reflective conversation. As a society, what do we value?
How have we progressed? Can we embrace change, and succeed?
The UPHEAVAL walkthrough attempts to mirror UD’s campus climate during the Vietnam Era. Individuals experience a journey through time that emphasizes pain, confusion and dissatisfaction. As you approach the images of the present climate, the supposed dichotomy between our histories is dismantled.
Junior Maggie Schaller and Conciousness Rising, a student organization partnered with the Human Rights Center, have played a key role in the development of this exhibition.
“With UPHEAVAL, we’re hoping to start a conversation between generations. With so much transition and conflict that happened both in the world and on UD’s campus from 1965-1975, we are hoping to create a parallel between what could happen from 2016-2026,” Schaller said. “As a member of Consciousness Rising, the social justice conference that happens on UD campus every year, we are always interested in what issues will spark the next generation of upheavals-and what will rival the conversations of change that happened from 1965-1975.”
The White Box Gallery’s mission is to bring vision to reality through sight, sound, space and emotion. A mere tour through UPHEAVAL awakens these changing perspectives and manifests in the reality that society has reacted in a particular fashion to this disruption.
UPHEAVAL is an exhibition unique from previous installations. UPHEAVAL will open on Jan. 21, 2016.
To see and read about the other exhibits in the series, click here.