2012 Exhibition
21. white code: VIEW
white code: VIEW consists of a tangible, large-scale graphite drawing on velum (divided into 8 parts) installed on the interior windows to serve as a screen for a looped video rear projection piece visible on the street. The stylized video images of eyes looking and blinking will be merged with satellite images and animations of the location it is installed (space-Earth-America-Detroit-Woodward-pavement), and video documentation of driving down and back the road from 8 Mile to the riverfront. My goal is to make a dual portrait: that of a city being looked at, and of the one doing the looking. This piece has no audio to allow the spontaneous inclusion of unedited local sounds with the experiencing of the piece (pedestrians, cars, other installations nearby, potential music in gallery, etc) in addition to opening up the location as a place for reflection, conversation, and socialization. I am excited about the duality of the location, with both an interior and exterior viewing perspective of the work. The interior perspective also opens up the possibility for people to interact with it, by becoming human shadow puppets, if they decide to place themselves in front of the projected light.
Artist Information
Vagner Whitehead
Detroit metro-based Brazilian artist and educator Vagner Mendonça Whitehead works with time-based and traditional media. His work employs original, appropriated and researched multilingual texts, found and created photo-based imagery, their translations and his interpretations as allegorical devices that reframe trans-cultural experiences vis-à-vis mass media and communication technologies. Vagner has exhibited his work throughout the United States (AZ, CA, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MA, ME, MI, MN, NM, NY, OR, TX, VA, VT, WI), and abroad (Argentina, Austria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Germany, India, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Switzerland), in solo and group exhibitions as well as in film and video festivals. He was an artist in residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute in Santa Fe, NM (2012), Residencia Corazon in La Plata, Argentina (2010), Center for Photography at Woodstock in Woodstock, NY (2006), and Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, IL (2002). Vagner was a visiting artist at the University of Kansas at Lawrence, Lawrence, KS (2004); University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI (2005); San Jose State University, San Jose, CA (2006); Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL (2008); State University of New York-Cortland, Cortland, NY (2010); Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Carbondale, IL (2010); and Wittenberg University in Springfield, OH (2011).