Slip the straps of the eight-pound backpack over your shoulders, buckle it around your waist, and try not to tense up as an attendant tightens your virtual-reality headset. In a moment, the large, mostly empty room at the MIT Museum…
By JACQUELINE HOUTON The idea that all art is propaganda captured quite a few devotees during the 20th century. Seen in writings of George Orwell, Upton Sinclair, and W.E.B. Du Bois, this sentiment would be further refined later in the…
By JACQUELINE HOUTON I sit in relative comfort in the climate-controlled gallery, on the bench so thoughtfully provided for me, and yet I am profoundly uncomfortable. I am watching a body slowly tumble down a flight of stairs, shaking the…
By JACQUELINE HOUTON Artists have long turned to travel as a wellspring for inspiration—Van Gogh had the amber light of Arles, Gauguin the women (and girls) of Tahiti. In Fusiform, the latest exhibition at the Rhys Gallery, Chicago-based artists Juan…
By JACQUELINE HOUTON Fully embracing Duchamp’s declaration, “The spectator makes the picture,” Cambridge’s Art Interactive has for five years displayed cutting-edge art that invites audience participation. Its latest show, Soundmarks, removes the picture from the equation, avowing that sound can…