The exhibition opens Friday, Sept. 18, and runs through Saturday, Oct. 31.It was planned to celebrate the Inauguration of WSU President Irvin D. Reid and the 12th annual Detroit Festival of the Arts.
The Inaugural Ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 18; the festival opens at 11 a.m. that day and continues through 6 p.m. Sunday. A full week of inaugural activities begins at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 14, with a "Symposium on Religion in Modern/Campus Life" and continues with speakers, other exhibitions, an ice cream social, a groundbreaking ceremony, the President's Inaugural Concert, museum tours, a "Fun Run," and more.
"Charged Hearts" is both a gallery-based installation and a Web site game. Richards traces the interconnections of electromagnetic impulses as they occur within three systems: weather, body and cyberspace. She combines these systems to create an interactive installation, which plugs in and traces the viewer's movements.
The installation compels the viewer to consider the future in the world of technology. The exhibition will be the first of its kind for the Detroit area.
The gallery space will be enveloped in semi-darkness with two glass hearts throbbing with red lights encased in turn of the century bell jars. A 19thcentury terrella (a glass globe with an electrical current) separates the hearts, which are 25 feet apart, while bluish lights spark overhead. The setting is like stepping back in time into a 19th century laboratory.
As a visitor steps onto a platform and picks up one of the glass hearts, the heart begins to glow more brightly and pulsates. When another person picks up the second heart, there is a change in the terrella and the heart; the heart seems to pulsate, its light intensifying, weakening, moving with every torque of the wrist. The beating of the glass heart seems to match the beating of the person's heart. Across the platform the first person holds the heart, which appears to be pulsating with activity. One wonders -do- all hearts beat to the same beat?
Other works by Richard, "Curiosity Cabinet" and "Virtual Bodies," also will be on display. Again both of these interactive works deal with ideas of current technology and the body.
Richards has had successful exhibitions in Canadian galleries such as the National Gallery of Canada, the Powerplant Gallery and the Banff Center for the Arts.
The artist will be available during the opening reception from 5-7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, in the gallery, where she will present a lecture at 7 p.m. The lecture and reception are free and open to the public.
The department of art and art history and the W. Hawkins Ferry Endowment co-sponsor the exhibition.
Gallery hours will be 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. The gallery is at 480 W. Hancock, between Cass and Second on the main floor of the Old Main Building.
For more information about the Inauguration call (313) 577-2150, for the exhibition call Sandra Dupret, gallery curator, at (313) 577-2423, or for the festival call the University Cultural Center office at (313) 577-5088.