Masur Museum - Outside-In Exhibition

I was contacted by the Masur Museum in Monroe, LA to do a piece for an upcoming exhibit entitled Outside-In, artwork which is traditionally displayed in an outdoor location being housed within the confines of a museum environment. At the time I was fascinated with concept of what makes up an image, pixels of color that combine to tell a story. In referencing an architectural example of the McCormick Center on the IIT Campus by OMA where a large image of Mies van der Rohe is made up of smaller pixel images of activities held within the student center, I chose to explore the idea that the smaller pixels could tell one story where the image they make up tell an opposing view.
Using a billboard technique, I was interested in what the person installing the billboard sees compared to the intended viewers. The material of printed vinyl as well as the image content was chose as a reflection upon this process. Tobacco companies utilized billboards as a primary form of advertisement as they were shunned from television and other popular methods. The billboards are intentionally oversized for the space resulting in the view needed to back up to a point where they interfere with the piece on the opposite wall.
The use of QR codes as the pixels came into play for two reasons. First off, due to my training as an architect, I’m accustom to expressing my ideas through representation whether this be in the form of models, drawings, or renderings. The QR codes are another representational method of an alternate media form. Secondly, it speaks of our dependence upon these devices in our daily activities. Cell phone reception is spotty at best within the museum resulting in some views inability to understand the individual QR code without this device. The models are another device by which the overall image can be understood as the piece is now reduced in size, effectively reproducing the effect of viewing the billboard from a distance and understanding the image at its intended view point.