Reality Folded
March 2025 First Friday Art Map
If you have been following along on my instagram clues, this is what I was referenceing with my black/blue and white/gold outfits; this March map started with my research prior to teaching color theory again, rediscovering this gem:
The dress conundrum continues to fascinate me 10 years later, as I still see it as white and gold (the dress is physically blue and black). Last week I tasked my students with mixing colors they saw in the image— and some mixed blues and blacks, and some mixed greys and golds on their palettes. WHAT. I’ve done the research, and know now that how we perceive the dress depends on how we perceive the context— either overexposed or underexposed. In continuing to think with this phenomenon, (and as I keep an ear to the news), I am left with this query:
How can we experience such different realities in the same object? How does the perceived context, or the direction from which we approach information, change our read?
One answer that came to mind was in the format of an agamograph— the accordian-folded surface that shows one image at one angle, and another from the opposite side. Thus, when reality is folded, it dimensionally faces people in different places, presenting different planes. This is the structure I pursued in the map this month. The way we perceive space, politics, each other, it is always slippery. I like a map that maps the different ways we can perceive based on vantage point/social location.
And the video of walking around it to see all sides:
When you look at the zoomed out view of Knoxville, you see the downtown gallery clump and the two other South Knox galleries in blue and black stripes, and when viewed from the other side, the downtown clump closeup divides into gold and white stripes. Stepping back to the center, the image is confusing and disjointed. My eye wants to fill in the shapes over the skipped panels, but the lines don’t extend, so it doesn’t work in my mind’s eye. It feels overwhelming.
This is how I feel when I hear and see and participate in dialogue about our world and nation right now. I try to extrapolate the lines and fill in the pictures, but the other narrative keeps it from working. Basically, this is my perpetual struggle with how to hold simultaneity—it is hard to do, without dropping part. How to hold both/and?
See y’all out there!
THE LIST
The Emporium (5-9)
@bigearsfestival presents “Big Words” by Wayne White
“Creativity and Community” by A1 Lab Arts
“Timeless Strings - The Art of Guitars and Clocks” by Deb Cikovic
“Flora & Fauna of Tennessee” by Hannah Doss
“From Paper to Thread to Yarn” by Kerry Remp
Gallery 1010 (5-9) “Following the Pattern” UTK Group Exhibition Exploring Visual Patterns curated by Hannah Jordan.
Arrowmont Gallery (5-9) “Lovingly: Black, Queer, Interracial Tennessee in Craft” Reception 5-7 PM with artist talks and curators reading poems of Nikki Giovanni and Beauford Delaney; and DJ Soularia (The Bottom) set 7-9 PM
UTK Downton Gallery (5-9) “Kite Symphony” by Roberto Carlos Lange + Kristi Sword
Dogwood Arts (5-8) “7 Decades in Bloom: Celebrating the Legacy of Dogwood Arts”
Red Gallery (5-9) Pangrok Sulap: Malaysian Printmaking Collective
Able Trade (5:30-8:30) Exhibition by Cary Ratliff
Rala (6-9) “Love Letters” by Mike Berry
Tristar Arts (5-~8)
“Gently Used Hauntings” A Soundscape Pop-up by Kai Mote
“Under The Branches” by Jered Sprecher,
“My Art Is Fine, My Art Is Craft” by Melissa Everett
Mighty Mud (6-9) “That Which We are, We are.” by Jordan Butzine
Not mapped but still happening!
Pretentious Glass (6-9) “Goblets”
The Birdhouse "(5:30-7:30) “Nearsighted: Vision Through a Camera Phone” by Billie Owens
Awaken Coffee (5-9) Casey Field
First SUNDAY:
Ijams Nature Center (March 9th, 2-5pm) “Symbiogenesis: A New Nature in the Anthropocene: An Exhibition of Regional Artworks that Engage the Living Landscape” by a group incredible artists: Ashlee Mays, Ashton Ludden, Kyle Cottier, etc!
Extra notes:
I overslept this morning—so documentation is a bit lacking— I’ll update later if I can!
Just a reminder, the numbers on the banner are the opening (left) and closing (right) time of each show, and I list them in order of time
This month there are several other shows going (Badwater, Ijams, etc)— add a paid subscription for micro maps guiding you to these shows!
You are always welcome to share this wherever you see fit as you long as attribution goes with it. You can still tag @lauren_farkas_makings on insta.
Cheers,
Farkas
Extra fun lil progress and juxtaposition photos:
Love this take on the “dress that broke the internet”! And a new word 🙌 amagomorph👌
This reminds me of how noise is used through an iterative process to train AI image generators. Taking advantage of this process with multiple prompts from different directions can lead to somewhat messy, but definitely legible optical illusions. See the work of Ryan Burgert here: https://diffusionillusions.com/
This to me seems like an interesting way of understanding the fractured and often paradoxical way that Trump speaks. Creating noisy “images” and testing them iteratively, refining for different perspectives, until the end result is legible from multiple angles. Of course Magritte asked that we remember the image is not reality.
So gorgeous! and I love the thoughtfulness of it. It really feels like we're living a weird double-world right now and this is a great way of exploring that while also being a fun throwback to a meme lol. I remember reading about the dress phenomenon back in the day, and as I was scrolling down the page, the image suddenly changed from black and blue to white and gold, and it was a really jarring experience that showed how the perception could shift in an instant. Very very cool!