Altered Landscapes

By Daniel Miller

at Robert F. DiCaprio Art Gallery

Moraine Valley Community College

January 19 through February 11, 2010

Reception: Thursday Jan. 21, 2-4 p.m.
With Artist talk at 3pm

Daniel Miller’s new exhibition titled Altered Landscapes includes robotics, video installations and sound sculpture that explore the tenuous relationship between humans and the altered world we live in. 

Source material for “Site A” a robotic video installation included in this exhibition, was originally taped in the forest preserve just minutes west of the college.  This work documents the location of a buried nuclear reactor through various seasons.  In the installation “Site A” a video image is projected in 360 degrees on a choreographed path by a robotic tripod. 

Another work included in the exhibition is “Safe Harbor” a video installation where a custom-built submersible camera housing was used to videotape the bottom of Burnham Harbor, located on the lakeshore in Chicago.  In the gallery the video is projected from a hanging boat made from the cans and trash collected from the harbor. 

"Acoustical landscape", exposes the hidden signals found in the materials of ourworld into an audible composition.  A rotating table set at a 20-degree angle passes a landscape of dirt, lawn patch seeds, moss and green instant garden squares under a scanning arm that detects visible light levels. Actuators mounted on three sound instruments mounted on the wall display this data as a sound performance.

Miller’s newest project “Contained” has at its center an acrylic dome with a scale model of Chicago inside.  Underneath the city electronic and mechanical elements control lighting effects within the model.  Within the dome smog emits from the highway and the nearby coal fired power station. Every 40 minutes a sun and moon rotate around this mechanical microcosm.

Directions:
Please follow signs at the entrances to the Fine Arts Center.
http://www.morainevalley.edu/gen_info/directions.htm

Fine Arts Center:
(Additional information here).
http://www.morainevalley.edu/FPAC/Season/gallery.htm