Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905–2016
Oct 28, 2016–Feb 5, 2017
Lorna Mills
49
Ways of Something is a twenty-first century response to “Ways of Seeing,” a four–part BBCtelevision series from 1972 on the history of art presented by the British critic John Berger, who critiqued the hidden ideologies in traditional Western art history. Artist Lorna Mills invited 113 fellow artists working in new media fields to replace the visual component of one–minute segments of Berger’s program with digital artworks responding to, and critiquing, his now-dated thesis, which can still be heard since Mills retained the original television audio tracks. A critical analysis of linear perspective, the body, and painting that seemed radical in 1972 triggers a rethinking when juxtaposed with digital imagery and webcam videos that turn art–historical conventions of the visual image inside out.