"PLAY BALL" Installation
at
"The Big Show,"
Lawndale Performance and Art Center
Maria Cristina Jadick
Artist Statement
Play Ball, is a mixed media installation, about 6ft X 6ft X 6 ft. in dimension that invites viewer participation. Visitors are encouraged to participate by swinging a bat at a baseball that sits on a tee. The baseball bat bears the wood-burned image of an outline of an Apache helicopter and the baseball bears a printed image of a bomb. The backstop is a transparent black fabric screen that is printed with the white outline of a large Middle Eastern country map, and behind which stands a red oil barrel.
Coincidentally as it happened during Opening Night, one participant swung the bat, sending the baseball careening into the backstop cloth, completely missing the Middle Eastern map target he was aiming to hit, unintentionally knocking over the tee stand and sending the wayward ball off the map!
This performative action served as both metaphor and an unexpected outcome. The participant had intended to have his delivery system (the Apache helicopter) dispatch a weapon (the bomb) to a particular country. However, as often happens in life, things did not go as planned. Is there a law of unintended consequences here? Something to think about.
at
"The Big Show,"
Lawndale Performance and Art Center
Maria Cristina Jadick
Artist Statement
Play Ball, is a mixed media installation, about 6ft X 6ft X 6 ft. in dimension that invites viewer participation. Visitors are encouraged to participate by swinging a bat at a baseball that sits on a tee. The baseball bat bears the wood-burned image of an outline of an Apache helicopter and the baseball bears a printed image of a bomb. The backstop is a transparent black fabric screen that is printed with the white outline of a large Middle Eastern country map, and behind which stands a red oil barrel.
Coincidentally as it happened during Opening Night, one participant swung the bat, sending the baseball careening into the backstop cloth, completely missing the Middle Eastern map target he was aiming to hit, unintentionally knocking over the tee stand and sending the wayward ball off the map!
This performative action served as both metaphor and an unexpected outcome. The participant had intended to have his delivery system (the Apache helicopter) dispatch a weapon (the bomb) to a particular country. However, as often happens in life, things did not go as planned. Is there a law of unintended consequences here? Something to think about.