Arts for Change - Beverly Naidus
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More Site-specific Works (NOT currently on view at this website)

"Let's Make a Deal, Again" was a site-specific installation that looked at stereotypes of success and failure in our society. This piece had squares of dirt on the floor with written messages slightly hidden by the dirt. The stanchions kept the audience walking on the dirt and led viewers to the micro game (complete with playing cards, "anti-prizes," and dice, but, at the same time, unplayable) in the center of the room. Exhibition: the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design gallery (1978).

"The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling (A Panacea for Pre-Millenium Tension)" was a site-specific audio installation designed for the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, England. Created just before the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, the audio tape in this piece contained dialog and advertising excerpts reflecting a mood of panic about the approaching possibility of nuclear apocalypse and neo-fascism in the U.S. Audience members heard this tape while filling out petitions which said "The undersigned do hereby request to be among the first to go" or "The undersigned do hereby request to be among those who survive." Subway posters with graffiti reflecting cold war panic were displayed above the petition table.

"Out of Breath"
is an installation/bookwork that explores environmental illness. The bookwork, made out of plexiglass and tissue paper, includes a narrative describing the evolution of an environmental illness. Images of lungs, drawn in black ink wash, are superimposed on text describing the effects of smog in Southern California on the immune systems of residents in the area and the compromises being made by the Air Quality Management Division to meet the needs of the local business community. The 13 page bookwork hangs unfolded (it has an accordion binding) from the ceiling like a text filled layer of smog. Two pedestals are located underneath and at each end of the bookwork. On each pedestal is a painted, photocollaged box that looks like a large tissue box. The images painted on the boxes are faces of screaming, coughing women and under each painted face one can barely make out a skyline image of downtown Los Angeles submerged in smog. One box invites the audience to share a story about their experience with environmental illness. There are two slots in this box - one for paper to write on and the other contains two booklets which detail statistical information about smog in Southern California and the effects of smog on the human body. This installation was displayed in Gallery B, California State University, Long Beach (1995).



Copyright © 2002 Beverly Naidus