Around sundown, there’s a faint glow coming from within a box-like building at the corner of West North and Maryland avenues – slightly blue, slightly orange. It seems odd because, if you didn’t know better, the structure would appear abandoned.
But once inside, it all becomes clear. Video projections flash high up on a long, white wall, while in the corner a neon blue hand makes a motion that resembles swiping a touch screen.
Sounds envelope you – a whoosh like someone spray painting, the wind playing with leaves, the murmur of voices.
An art installation is the temporary tenant of the former KAGRO building in Station North. It’s the first project of nomadic museum The Contemporary since it reopened in 2013.
California artist Victoria Fu’s piece
Bubble Over Green examines our habits with digital devices and touchscreens, experimenting with layers of video, sound and light. Its presence in the KAGRO building encourages anyone to stop in, and that was exactly The Contemporary’s aim.
“We wanted something gestural, fun and accessible to the public,” program manager Ginevra Shay says during a tour Thursday night. Visitors can view the piece Wednesday through Sunday evenings until April 3.
When the sun sets, the piece really comes alive. Outside lights and traffic noise begin to meld with the installation, and its most dominant part, the video projections entitled Velvet Peel 1, captivates the viewer’s attention.
On the wall, it appears the camera lens is fractured into tiny bits of glass. But then you realize you’re looking at bubble wrap, and marvel at how Fu has transformed it.
Much like what her piece has done to the long-empty building it calls home.