Catherine Forster

Intelligent Design II", Kasia Kay Art Projects. Group exhibition review excerpt:
"If we ever transcend our biological bodies, maybe we’ll realize that tech-genius/inventor Ray Kurzweil was right when he wrote that humans and computers would eventually become one. While we have our bods intact, we can peruse this revelatory exhibition that features the Kurzweil-inspired collective (art)n and a bevy of artists who value intelligent design and want to playfully re-create the history of mankind....Catherine Forster’s prepackaged Box Set 2007, a careful video preservation of each Earth season, is more subtly evocative—and it will come in handy if Al Gore’s environmental predictions come true." Alicia Eler, Time Out Chicago, 2008

The exhibition included both "Box Set" and "Intelligent Design". "Box Set" comprises a handmade box, a book and a set of prints. Mediation and digitized wonders have forever changed our relationship with nature. Nature is revered, but raw nature no longer dazzles, unless it is packaged for the optimum experience. "Box Set" provides a private and purer experience of nature: no cars, no planes overhead or personal craft, no blaring music, lawn mowers or noisy neighbors. Choose your season, turn on the box and you have indoor nature at your own leisure, and no bugs, poison ivy or weather concerns.

In "Intelligent Design" a child plays teacher come newscaster presenting the difference between Neanderthals and Humans. A seemingly random collection of images flashes by in the lower right hand corner of the screen; like those irritating pop-ups on your favorite TV show. The images were downloaded from a Google search on “intelligent design”. The juxtaposition of the child’s narrative and the images is both hilarious and socially poignant. The piece surfaces issues of religion, race, humanity and ignorance.

Click on the image below for more information on "BoxSet".