START is a collection of new works exploring sensory and perceptual processing following acute stress to the brain. Mixing electronic and traditional media, the exhibition features interactive video sculptures and electronic sculptural reliefs from three series: START, YOUR BRAIN IS AN EGG YOLK IN AN EGG SHELL, and INCUBATE.
Location: Harvestworks Art and Technology Building 10a Nolan Park Governors Island
August 27th – October 30th, 2022. Open to the public from 11 am to 5 pm Weekends
Meet the Artist Day: TBD
Participants enter the space and find themselves surrounded by spot-lit sculptural reliefs and videos, low hums of noise oscillating with silence. In YOUR BRAIN IS AN EGG YOLK IN AN EGG SHELL, sculptural reliefs present absurd and mundane scenes. Figures formed from layers of plaster bandages appear frozen in motion, egg shells protruding from their mouths, suspended in backdrops of egg yolk. Projectors cast additional layers onto the reliefs, including re-projections of the reliefs’ surfaces and digitally manipulated light and shadows.
Alongside the reliefs, video sculptures display the word “START”. Moving close to each sculpture activates a short audiovisual presentation, a sequence of destabilized text and moving images driven by code and human presence. Each encounter with START is repetitive, iterative, and divergent, with additional content presented in each subsequent encounter. The sculptures’ video footage was created by manipulating audio frequencies and electromagnets to affect analog video signals, using custom video processing tools while in residence at Signal Culture in Owego, New York.
Works from the INCUBATE series line the walls. Small spot lit sculptural reliefs of egg shells set in plaster bandages form repetitive patterns of physical protrusions, light, and shadow.
The works in this exhibition have been supported in part by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, Harvestworks Artist Scholarship, PSC-CUNY Research Award, and artist residency with Signal Culture.
BIO
Allison Berkoy is a Brooklyn based artist, exploring the communicative potential of physical-digital environments when combined with mutable storytelling and media. These works take the form of interactive installations, electronic sculptures, and networked audiovisuals; driven by code, sensors, and human bodies. With participatory and absurd narratives, Berkoy’s installations become stages for performance that test the boundaries and etiquette of human-machine interaction as well as human-human relationship.
Allison completed her MFA in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, MA in Performance Studies from New York University, and BS in Theatre from Northwestern University. She is a 2022-2023 Artist in Residence in the Integrated Design + Media (IDM) program at New York University, Tandon School of Engineering, and an Assistant Professor of Emerging Media Technology at New York City College of Technology, City University of New York (CUNY).
