Audience experiences life as ‘the undercaste’ in exhibit
Antenna Theater’s installation brings harsh reality to Wight Art
Gallery
By Jenny Hsieh
You are going to die. You are going to die.
The words burn in your consciousness. The syllables echo in your
mind. Confined in a narrow, pitch-dark morgue drawer, an overhead
police siren glares as waves of static noises crescendo.
You are about to embark on a hypnotic, suffocating, eye-opening
and sometimes downright offensive journey as an urban homeless
person through the "Etiquette of the Undercaste" exhibit at the
Wight Art Gallery.
Created by Chris Hardman in 1988, this interactive installation
incorporates edited interviews of northern California’s homeless,
social workers, police, bartenders, soup kitchen volunteers,
priests and those who interact on a first hand basis with the
underprivileged.
The exhibit attempts to evoke empathy for the homeless and
disadvantaged. Left wing in its political ideology, "Etiquette’s"
conception had its root in Hardman’s private fear that the
phenomenon of homelessnes is becoming, for many an acceptable part
of everyday existence.
The installation has special reverberations in the UCLA
community. In Westwood, residents accustomed to the weathered palms
pleading for money, have grown desensitized to the plight of these
street people.
The maze of displays attempts to refute the notion that
individual perseverance necessarily precipitate in success. The
lack of choices open to a member of the undercaste makes the
audience pause to reconsider the concept that poverty is
deserving.
Antenna Theater’s walk-through performance installation imposes
the limelight on its audience, Sony walkmans strapped to their
shoulders.
Participants enter the exhibit alone via the morgue drawer at
three minute intervals. Exit signs are plenty, aglow for those who
can’t handle the intense experience of being a city street rat.
Audience members share this telling experience through the
chorus of voices pre-paced to maximize the impact of the visual
displays they encounter.
"First thing you learn is to watch your ass … As soon as you
turn your back, they’ll rip you off blind." Simple, street-smart
idioms voiced by those passing through the city war zone become
social commentaries on the cruel realities of living the
unknown.
Motion detecting lighting facilities, sensory-tripped animation,
public art projects and you, the puppet of soundtrack, combine to
portray the dismal reality of being the underdog.
Subjected to voices that provoke brawls in a boxing ring, lying
helpless in a cheap hotel room as simulated sex broadcasts, the
audience member is lamb for the slaughter. One’s own internal
workings create the fear, desolation and vulnerability felt as a
have-not.
Wedded to "Etiquette" is the adjacent display of "Hidden Views"
featuring works by inner city youths, skid row artists, and
children from shelters. These traditionally underrepresented
artists provides social commentary through glimpses into private
world of obstacles and suppressed emotions. From textural pieces
created by a blind artist to 9-year- old Peter’s sketches these
works provoke as do "Etiquette," the sense for greater
understanding and empathy for the undercaste, cast in a role they
do not choose.
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EXHIBIT: "Etiquette for the Undercaste" at the Wight Art
Gallery. Continues through Feb. 10. Admission is free. For more
info call (310) 206-4463.