A word about video installations.

As I hope is clear from this site, I pride myself on celebrating artists and the galleries that support them, particularly SAM, but I feel impelled to raise a curatorial point of order about video installations. 

Currently SAM is featuring a work in multimedia by the South Carolinean artist Jacolby Satterwhite. It’s an enjoyable piece with one major flaw: it’s very loud. 

Adjacent to the large room in which it alone is housed (making it from SAM’s perspective, not just a voluble installation, but an expensive one) there hangs other art. It is currently impossible to have a conversation or rest peacefully in front of the canvases hanging there.

Like a bar room bore who insists on attracting attention to himself by providing loud play-by-play commentary to a playoff game, video artists have a tendency of shouting their points of view to the detriment of those around them. I haven't the foggiest idea why curators enable this behavior by dialing things up to 11. 

The good news is that there is an alternative: simply provide a wireless link to the work. A large number of us these days carry airbuds or headphones, and for those who do not, they can be provided. I would also note that going wireless has the added benefit of affording us a more immersive experience while providing the artist with another creative element involving technologies like spatial audio and ambisonics. 

Galleries are not mosh pits, nor are they sports bars, and there is no earthly reason why Mr Satterwhite should be allowed to shout over the top of other artists and our private conversations. This is only partly his fault because the solution lies with the curator. 

So curator, with the deepest respect, please do us all a favor and give us back an inclusive gallery experience where I can hear my friend speak.