Peter Sarkisian
Extruded Video Engine II. Vacuum formed thermal plastic and video projection, (unique in series). 2007. Via bernicesteinbaumgallery.com

This morning’s St. Petersburg Times reports that the black tie reception for the new Hazel Hough Wing at the Museum of Fine Arts included the unveiling of a gift of contemporary art to the museum. Folks who visited Bernice Steinbaum Gallery during Miami Basel will recognize Extruded Video Engine II by Peter Sarkisian. (The piece was on display there in December.) According to the article, EVE II may be valued at up to $250,000.

Interesting! I’m wondering: Will the MFA continue to collect contemporary art? (If so, how? Is there an endowment, or part of an endowment, set aside for annual expenditure on contemporary art? Or will the museum simply continue to accept gifts of contemporary art?) One piece does not a contemporary collection make, but this is certainly exciting news.

For readers who haven’t seen the piece in person, I fear the photo above may be confusing. (Perhaps it is a digital image of the animation alone rather than the completed piece.) EVE II is a video-sculpture, the “screen” an irregularly shaped piece of translucent white plastic in the three-dimensional form of the engine you see above; the colorful, kinetic parts of the engine are provided by a video projection onto the inside of the plastic casing.

In real life, ambient light in the gallery washes the piece out a bit, so it does not look quite this vivid in my experience. But the effect is still uncanny. You’re presented with a whimsical object that straddles the divide between mechanical and organic; live (as in, present in the current moment) and taped; material and immaterial; real and fake; and so on…

As a visualization of the perceptual mystery of video itself– paradoxically magical and mundane– it’s a lot of fun.