A LIGHT SHINES THROUGH THE DARKNESS

There are many parallels between minimal and post-minimal fine art and early video games, namely the reliance on audience participation– where minimalist artwork asks its viewers to consider themselves and the space around them as well as the art, early video games asked their audiences to project narrative and meaning onto a visually minimal game as well. Where minimalism and conceptual art may appear to some as shrouded within a veil of academia, others may see a kid's game from the 1980s as simplistic and mundane after a single playthrough.

What these artworks (found, offline, at the museum of Dia:Beacon) share in common with early games is the concept of play: the idea that there is no one answer; the ever-changing nature of the artwork in relation to site, form, and experience. So, what happens when physical objects are rendered in non-physical spaces? What happens when non-representational artworks are inserted as a substitute for a quasi-representational pixel form, aligned to the map of a child's game? How does experiencing an exhibition of a 'fake' version of 'real' artwork change our perceptions of objecthood, spatial relationships, narrative, or meaning? What questions do simulated galleries ask about the future of exhibiting artwork in space, both ontologically and conceptually? This exhibition won't answer those questions, but it might ask them.

Artists shown in this exhibition include Mary Corse, Donald Judd, Francois Morellet, Blinky Palermo, and Anne Truitt.