Video Artist Sees Architecture as Cultural "Skin" From: University Currents Date: May 26, 2000 By: Erin Duffy Archive: Campus News Many people may not be familiar with video installation art. It is a visually intense, interactive mix of media, often full of symbolic references and meanings. Through June 2, a video installation exhibit can be seen in DAAP's Reed Gallery. The artist is Claudia Esslinger, professor of printmaking, drawing, mixed media and video at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. The exhibit, titled "Retopia: Reinventions and Realities," explores the relationship between people and outer facades, especially skin. Architecture is also seen in this light as a "cultural skin." Also important to the theme are the cycles of reinvention in society. For instance, one work in the exhibit was inspired by a trip Esslinger took to Dresden, Germany's cultural centerpiece, which was firebombed during World War II. One part of the exhibit includes a floor plan of the Zwinger Museum, which was destroyed in 1945 and is continually being rebuilt. The piece calls forth questions, such as: When rebuilding begins, does a city reconstruct itself exactly as it was or does it change? Another part of the exhibit includes a "fire safety net" which is made of animal skins. Video of the cobblestone streets of Dresden float eerily across the net, while speakers play a strange mix: bombs dropping to a waltz from the opera "The Marksman," by Carl Maria von Weber. This is a historical reference: the waltz was actually being played on Feb. 13, 1945, as bombs fell on Dresden. Esslinger describes her video installations as "an environment where there may be sculptural components. The viewer is involved and becomes part of the piece by entering the space." This is different from the object-oriented art that many people are used to; that is, art in which the object exists independent from the viewer. "Retopia: Reinventions and Realities," can be seen through June 2 in the Reed Gallery on the 5000 level at DAAP. The gallery is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. For more information, call 513-556-2839.