The Article below was published in Vol. 135, Issue 5 of the Lake Forest College Stentor on February 7, 2020
Christian Metzger ’20
Staff Writer
Lake Forest College’s newest art installation, titled “States of Democracy,” premiered at the Sonnenschein and Albright Galleries, located in the Durand Art Institute, on January 23. Organized by Assistant Professor of Art David Burr and lecturer in art Rebecca Goldberg, the exhibit features audio-visual works from 10 different artists. Opening concurrently with the exhibit was “Borderstatis,” a 1998 video work by artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago, which is meant to work in conversation with the other gallery.
Of the 10 art pieces in the exhibit, each uses a combination of audio and visual elements in different ways in order to touch on and critique elements of the American democratic experience and democracies across the world. Whether that be the scrolling text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provided by Turkish artist Hina Barlas or Micheal Marks’ virtual visualization of the labyrinth-like construction of the government, all the pieces of artwork the exhibit offers insights into the state of democracy.
“What I liked about the process was being able to set a call for art—a very democratic means of collecting artwork where anyone can submit a piece for the show,” Burr said. When putting out the call the exhibition received 70 submissions, which was subsequently narrowed down to the 10 now on display at the exhibition.
Of the 10 chosen for display was “Moments of Silence” by Jake Dockins, which depicts the empty presidential podium while news coverage plays in the background talking about shootings and other national tragedies. Dockins is an undergraduate student and has work exhibited in several galleries while simultaneously working on his bachelor of fine arts at the University of North Texas.
“There’s a lot of conversations I’ve had with students about democracy and there’s a wide spectrum of opinions of what democracy means to people. So, I thought that was a question people wanted to talk about,” Burr said about the creation of the gallery. “There is no way democracy is ever going to be a perfected process. It’s a constant work of art for artists, but it’s a constant work of art for the people, too. I think it’s something we’ve all got to constantly build and maintain. The important thing is to maintain it and not have it regress.”
A good number of other artworks capture aspects one might consider mundane, such as Ashanti McGee’s “Family Life on Dashcam,” which depicts McGee experiencing her day-to-day life taking care of her four children. Burr stresses how even works such as these provide meaningful insight into the reality of living in a democratic society. “That’s how we have to experience democracy, through the prism of our everyday lives,” said Burr.
Burr has been working with and organizing art exhibitions for over 20 years, having set up gallery spaces on the tops of mountains, shipping containers, and other unique spaces. His extensive experience in the field of video and visual media gives rise to hosting audio/visual galleries like “States of Democracy.”
