exhibitions
Susan Hiller: Psi Girls
Artist
- Susan Hiller
Special Events
Friday, 5 October
6:00 to 9:00 PM
University Art Gallery
6:00 PM
Hardy Tower 140
7:30 to 9:00PM
University Art Gallery
*The opening celebration and the exhibition are free and open to the public.
~~~
About the Exhibition
Describing her work as “paraconceptual,” American-born and London-based artist Susan Hiller combines modalities of conceptual art practice with investigations of paranormal phenomena. Her career-long interest in extra-sensory perception, telepathy, dream states and near-death experiences is evident throughout her media-diverse oeuvre. The influence of the inexplicable on the everyday finds particular expression in Psi Girls, a five-screen video installation comprising color-altered clips from five popular films of the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. The mesmerizing sequences feature young girls and teenage women affecting inanimate objects through telekinesis and visual concentration. The resulting montage of cinematic imagery, unified by a single, pulsating soundtrack, focuses attention on the uncanny and unnerving power of female adolescents. As the title characters of Psi Girls exercise mind over matter to defy the supposed limitations of the physical world, so are they enabled by their intellect, imagination and desire to challenge the gender-based prejudice that persists in contemporary society.
Sponsors
Susan Hiller: Psi Girls is organized by Tina Yapelli, director of the University Art Gallery at San Diego State University. The exhibition and special events are sponsored by the School of Art, Design and Art History; the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts; and the fund for Instructionally Related Activities. Additional support is provided by the San Diego State University Art Council.