New Media

Five artistsJames Barany, Jill Casid, Stephen Hilyard, Chele Isaac and Sabine Gruffatuse fresh innovations to challenge the concept of “new” and “old” media in the Charles Allis Art Museum’s exhibit “New Media,” which runs through Sept. 15. In the museum’s sitting room, Barany integrates films, opera and video into obsolete machines like the pathephone, phenakistoscope and stereoscope, all precursors to Apple’s high-tech designs. One piece, I Gave Her Cakes and I Gave Her Ale, runs video, music and pictures from a hidden camera inside the museum. In the dining room, Casid offers Intimographies, a series of iPod Touches encased in handmade wooden boxes. Held under lock and key, the artwork needs to be removed and then used according to a list with eight instructions. While drawing upon the Victorian cabinet of curiosities, Casid downloaded Polaroid photos to the iPod Touches, primarily using fascinating portraits that cross the boundary between photographic and personal.