August 4, 2022 - December 16, 2022
feedback
Feedback occurs when the output begins to enter the input. Ryan Buyssens’ work is triggered by the viewer forming a loop between the art and the audience. Works created using motors appear animated by electricity, but the true force is the human interaction with the pieces. Where Alex Calder or George Rickey created works dependent on the winds of a natural environment, the mechanics of Buyssens’ creation are controlled in a way that allows them to operate outside of the forces of nature. These cold and sophisticated replicas of nature are a metaphor of modern society’s relationship to technology. Organic and yet mechanical, they play back and forth with one another. Modern technology can liberate, but it also has the potential to create constriction that interferes with awe and wonder. Everyday, all around, people in our current age push buttons and click things, providing input to devices that provide output. This loop continues day in and day out, constantly in motion. Ryan Buyssens’ ‘feedback’ is a physical manifestation of this process. Stepping into the room, the machines sense the viewer’s presence and when the viewer leaves, they know when the viewer is gone.
