Yvonne Buchanan has a question for you, and she'll pose it every weekend until the end of March.
The professor of art, design and transmedia at Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts debuted her new video, titled in Court (Basketball) [9], last night at dusk at the Everson Museum of Art [10]. The 13-minute piece was projected onto a large wall on the north side of the building and played on loop until 11 p.m.
"I suppose that this one is more of an open-ended question. I'm not answering anything. I'm just offering a question," Buchanan said. "I don't want to attach so many words to my work. Whatever the audience brings to it is what they bring, and I'm happy for any interpretations people have."
in Court (Basketball) will screen from dusk to 11 p.m. every Thursday, Friday and Saturday until March 31.
The video, which takes place on a basketball court, explores the notion of the court as both a place for games and as a cage for the players.
The inspiration for the video, Buchanan said, came from walking along the city streets in the summertime and hearing the sounds of basketball coming from the county jail, located just a few hundred feet from where the video is screened.
"It's a cite-specific video," Buchanan said, adding that it capitalizes on the juxtaposition the location offers. "Art is about aspiration and inspiration, and then you have aspirations and inspirations sort of collapsed into, maybe, some despair half a block away," she said.
The video, which is completely silent, was originally intended to be screened in the summertime so that the audience could watch the screen while they heard the sounds carried from the jail. But after some consideration, she decided to begin screening the video in the winter.
"I thought maybe it's even more profound when it's cold out," said Buchanan. "Maybe it's slower to make that connection, but it's still happening."
Anneka Herre is the technical producer for the Urban Video Project [11], the organization working in conjunction with the Everson Museum and Light Work to put on the screening. According to Herre, the in Court screening coincides with the museum's video and sound installation of another work by Buchanan titled Strange Tongue, which will be on exhibit inside the museum.
There will be an artist talk by Buchanan on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 6:30 p.m. Both the talk and the screenings are free of charge.
