Technology has become essential to the average person’s everyday life to an extent unimaginable just a few years ago. Telecommunication, photography, video, texting, internet access, and e-mail are at our fingertips through handheld devices. How is all this change manifested in the arts? The UC Davis Nelson Gallery will offer an exhibition this winter that addresses just that question. Three Installations by Liz Phillips will run from January 10 through March 23, 2008 with a free public reception from 6:30 to 8 pm on January 10. In addition, a special lecture with Liz Phillips sponsored by the UC Davis Studio Art Lecture Series will occur on January 10 from 4:30 to 6 pm at the University Club.

At the vanguard of the multimedia art form, Liz Phillips has been creating interactive, video, sound-based installations for the past 30 years. She combines audio and visual art forms with new technologies to create an enveloping experience for each person that enters one of her installations. The materials that she uses include the commonplace images and sounds of people, wind, fish, water, light, dance, etc. as well as custom made technology that measures the presence, movement, stillness, and absence of audience to make a unique and ever-changing experience each time one visits the installation. For the exhibition Phillips will produce three installations—Sonar Eclipse, Echo Location, and Spectral Reserve. According to Phillips, “These installations cannot be seen in a moment. It takes time to experience their facets. One needs to hear and repeat many events to experience their gradations and intersections—those sound images resulting in the context of their adjacent and simultaneous relationships.”

This installation is part of the Mondavi Performing Art Center’s Creativity Project. The Nelson is located in the UC Davis Art Building on the ground floor, Room 124. Parking adjacent to the gallery is available in lot 6. There will be a podcast interview with Liz Phillips on the Mondavi website, mondaviarts.org. For more information and images please contact Katrina Wong at nelsongallery@ucdavis.edu.