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Wild, Wild West
Joe Bensen, Project Coordinator
Joe Bensen is interested in exploring the potential of digital image production and display as it relates to fine arts exhibitions. Mr. Bensen's exhibition, Out and About in the Wild, Wild West, takes an uneasy look at t he contemporary American West. The exhibition subject matter is challenging in and of itself and, since there are few established models for producing a digital exhibition, a central challenge is in defining what comprises digital exhibition. As a preliminary step towards digital exhibition and as an exploration of presentation techniques, Mr. Bensen in April of 1996 established a page on the World Wide Web (WWW) specifically for the purpose of displaying his photographic images. During the fa ll of 1996, Mr. Bensen devised a method for loading short sequences of images to his WWW page as long horizontal composites which are user scrollable. This experience convinced him that a digital exhibition was doable. With the technical guidance and support of the Instruction Support (IS) Lab, the next phase is to develop a means for digitally displaying a continuously scrolling "stream" of nearly three hundred still images. These images will be organized into four chapters with coordinated narration and music. Together with the IS staff, Mr. Bensen has been exploring the relative merits of different software packages possibly capable of achieving this "image stream". The physical components of the exhibition are currently envisioned as: One computer running a continually scrolling strip of images with brief bits of narration at the start and finish of each chapter. Interactivity will be limited to: pause, resume, back/forward and slow/fast. A second computer projecting a continuously looped wall-sized, non-narrated version of the scrolling exhibition. A shortened version of this exhibition will be prepared for Internet access, either compressed for interactivity, or displayed in the same manner as Joe's current WWW sequences. Arrangements will be made with Internet galleries at other institutions (in the US and abroad) for a simultaneous "global opening" during the week of the ASU exhibition. It is hoped that new models for presentation in visual arts will emerge from this exploration. As a teacher of visual media, Mr. Bensen has great interest in the channels by which artists might share and promote their work. The Internet and independent CD-ROM production appear to be very realistic ways for developing artists to show work and share creative ideas with colleagues at other institutions. The gallery exhibition will take place in Northlight Gallery, Arizona State University, from April 21 through April 30. The online exhibition is all but complete and may be viewed.
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