Student's Virtual Exhibition: Lands of Promises and the Broken Ones

Since the industrial revolution, big cities have been attracting more and more people with their offering of job opportunities, higher income, better living conditions, healthcare, and education, etc. However, awaiting in these cities are not only dreams and happy endings. The exhibition Lands of Promises and the Broken Ones addresses the starkly different living conditions within metropolises in order to expose the omnipresence of social inequality in the contemporary age, which have remained mostly unknown to the general public.

What factor, if any, could have accounted for this "lack of awareness?" Could it be the impression of mainstream media? The development of the tourism industry? Administrative negligence? Or something else? The viewers shall immerse themselves in a myriad of contradictions to gain a broader perspective on this issue and may develop their own personal standpoints.

The exhibited pieces were gathered from Google image searches or are screenshots of Google search results. As the keywords slightly changed, the search engine returned a completely different set of results; however, a pattern will prevail as the viewer walk through the exhibition.

Sometimes “seeing the big picture” is not enough. The image above is one great example of the many Google image results for “NYC.” Now, zoom in a little. Change the keyword to “Brownsville NYC,” and you will find images such as the one to the right.

 1.Google search: London; 2,3.Google search: Hackney London

Advertising banner of Mumbai: the city of allure

Mumbai houses the largest slum in Asia: the Dharavi.

As the demand for new, unique experiences continued to evolve, a new term came to existence: Slum tourism. This model originated from the 19^th century, at the time focusing on Manhattan and London areas.

1. Google search: San Francisco; 2,3,4. Tenderloin San Francisco

This exhibition was created by Nam Do for the class ARHI 356: Current Approaches to Curatorial Methods. The creator claims no rights to any of the photographs featured here.

Nicole Gerling's Virtual Gallery: Pricey Power and Finesse

Artist Statement: Lacrosse was discovered in the 1630s, Native Americans played with sticks called crosses and wooden or deer skin balls that were made by the players. Now, sticks, gloves, helmets, goggles, and balls are all made in mass production. Costing hundreds of dollars just to step on the field. Girls can easily spend two hundred; boys depending on their position can spend five hundred and goalies for men and women about the same. There is also the safety factor; most teams demand the players to have a special insurance just for lacrosse related injuries and the higher price of equipment is considered safer. Why would someone buy cheap gear when a hard rubber ball is flying around at high speeds? Basically making the user pay more just to have a safer game experience. This sport has turned into a rich kids sport, turning away everyone that could not easily put down hundreds to experience the rush.

Emily Wickizer's Virtual Exhibition: Mammals

Mission Statement: The show Mammals seeks to make a comparison between human and non-human mammals by portraying a variety of non-human mammals exhibiting behaviors that indicate some type of “human” characteristic. The viewer is encouraged to consider these characteristics and question why we typically think of them as being related first and foremost to humans. Have all of the creatures in this collection somehow been exposed to humans enough to pick up on their behavior and mimic them in their own behaviors, or are these characteristics more universal to the entire animal world? Through physical actions, patterns of social behavior, and facial expressions indicating emotion, Mammals seeks to challenge the notion that

humans and other animals are more different than they are alike.

Jessica Tayson's Virtual Gallery