'INterACTION'

Ben Stone, Nuptron 4000, 2004.

Participation is mandatory" is a phrase common to improv theatergoers, but contemporary art audiences, used to standing passively, are increasingly called into full-contact viewing. Pressed into service by artists, viewers are often asked to follow a course of action(s)–"to complete the work"–in order to get the artwork's full meaning.

Entreating the viewer to act is the main curatorial premise of "INterACTION." In 1,001 Dresses: An Act of Exchange, 2005, Melinda Fries invites viewers (primarily female, it's assumed) to find and keep a dress they like from an assortment of hanging and piled frocks given to the artist by friends, and in exchange have their picture taken with their chosen dress. Ben Stone's Nuptron 4000, 2004, a no-frills robot that performs weddings (such as the artist's own), is available to eager couples during the exhibition, although beware: Nuptron's nuptials aren't legally binding–a human justice of the peace is still required. Granite Amit and Patrick Killoran's ongoing works are created and experienced outside of HPAC, mostly by the unsuspecting. Amit's found language pieces are displayed on borrowed LED signs across Chicago, and Killoran's 150 wallets containing fake money and other items that reference the movie Lost Horizons have been dropped at heavily trafficked tourist sites (that none have been returned is beside the artist's point, according to co-curator Allison Peters).

That some sort of interaction between artist and viewer was achieved is good, we suppose, but to what end? The conceptual provocations here are slight and easy; aesthetically, they fare even worse. "Interactive," interestingly, is also an Internet buzzword, and point-and-click does not a meaningful or transformative experience make.–Annette Ferrara