feature article - february 2008

Milwaukee Art Museum features Sensory Overload

IMMERSIVE light environments, optical illusions and interactive sound installations take center stage at the Milwaukee Art Museum from Jan. 24 through Oct. 2009 with Sensory Overload: Light, Motion, Sound and the Optical in Art since 1945.

The exhibit tracks two visual art movements, Kinetic and Op art, and their legacies. The exhibition showcases approximately 50 works in almost 15,000 square feet of gallery space. Visitors, for example, will encounter Stanley Landsman’s legendary 1968 Walk-In Infinity Chamber, an environment of mirrors and lights that is returning to the gallery floor after 15 years.

In addition to paintings and other works, select images, films and videos will be projected in two black box theaters installed in the galleries. Sensory Overload also includes an immersive 25 x 50 foot installation by artist Erwin Redl.

The installation is chronological in its presentation, and begins with the Bauhaus works that stimulated the developments of Kinetic and Op art. The 1950s and ‘60s saw the emergence of vibrant early Op art pieces by European and American artists. Pieces by artists working in the 1970s reflect the continued influence and evolution of Josef Albers’ ideas, while the works of Peter Halley, Philip Taaffe, and the so-called post-hypnotic artists such as Bruce Pearson and James Siena carry the optical tradition into the 1980s and 1990s.

Kinetic art is defined as art that incorporates “real or apparent movement.” Sensory Overload continues this long-held focus at the museum, which permanently features atop its Quadracci Pavilion the Santiago Calatrava-designed, and world-renowned, Burke Brise Soleil. Commonly referred to as “the wings,” this constitutes a 110-ton work of kinetic sculpture. Another landmark is Alexander Calder’s Red, Black, Blue (1973) rotating at the entrance to the museum’s Windhover Hall.

Tickets are $8/adult, $6/seniors, $4/students and free for children 12 and under. This ticket includes general admission to the collection galleries. The museum is open seven days a week from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., except for Thursdays when the museum is open until 8 p.m. For more information, phone 224-3200 or visit www.mam.org.