Math & Cultural
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| Location: | SLMath: Commons Room, 2nd Floor Deck |
ART AT SLMATH CLOSING RECEPTION
Kris Lang: Unlikely Worlds
Thursday, October 12, 2023 from 5:30-7:30pm Pacific Time
Free & Open to the Public · Live Music & Refreshments
Art on display throughout the 2nd floor
Address: Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath - formerly MSRI), 17 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA 94720 (Google Maps)
View Directions and Parking Information - Campus Shuttle Schedule
Reception: 2nd Floor Commons Room & Outdoor Deck
The general public and SLMath visitors are welcome to join us to celebrate the closing of the art exhibit "Kris Lang: Unlikely Worlds" on Thursday, October 12, 2023 from 5:30-7:30pm at the 2nd floor commons room and deck. This event is free and open to the public, with live music by flamenco guitarist Daniel Fríes and refreshments. Art is on display throughout the 2nd floor of the building.
Abstract Diorama 17 (Southern Oracle) - 2022
ABOUT "UNLIKELY WORLDS"
These improvisational abstract dioramas are made from custom sculptural elements and original patterns printed on paper and film. No digital manipulation or 3D rendering is used in these photographs. Fragile, ephemeral, and barely constructed, these compositions are lit and photographed — all the effects are practical and in-camera, yielding a fluid interplay between the digital and analog realms.
Much of our culture’s shared visual vocabulary is informed by our expectations of how camera lenses, rather than our own eyes, render 3D space in 2D. For example, we make assumptions about relative scale in a photograph based on what is in- and out-of-focus. Some elements in my work are genuinely out of focus... and some of the surfaces are only printed with a blurred pattern to look that way. Some elements in my work are genuinely out of focus... and some of the surfaces are only printed with a blurred pattern to look that way. My intention is never to trick the viewer outright, but to confound their expectations by presenting multiple focal planes that ought not be able to exist in the same image. Similarly, the light behaves counterintuitively as it interacts with printed gradients, delivering the viewer to a zone with slightly different rules for light and space. Although on first viewing, one might assume this is work done entirely digitally, the imperfections of human handwork are integral to the overall feel. I build them to delight in actual light hitting real objects, in a world clearly possible in spite of being unlikely.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Kris Lang is a photographer and printmaker born in Colorado Springs, CO, who lives and works in San Francisco. She received a BFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 1998. Her works on fabric and large scale photographs have been exhibited nationally. Locally her work has been shown at Kala Art Institute, The Alameda Art Center, and with GenArt. She is also an artist collaborator, teacher, and digital printmaker at Electric Works, San Francisco.
A limited number of accessible parking spaces are available first-come, first-served at the SLMath building entrance.
Free and open to the public. Outdoor reception on 2nd floor balcony. Registration is not required for this event.
UC Berkeley's Hill Shuttle operates on campus from Evans Hall / Mining Circle to the Space Science Laboratory twice per hour. Non-UC Berkeley or SLMath ID holders can ride for $1/trip, payable via cash only. The final shuttle of the evening departs SLMath / Space Sciences Lab at 7:15 PM. (View shuttle schedule) This shuttle drops off at the top of the SLMath driveway and riders will need to walk down the inclined driveway to reach the building.