There’s lots to dislike about RISD’s Digital + Media Biennial, which features work by MFA students in the college’s decade-old program. Volume levels are too low, wall text wasn’t properly proofread, and too many pieces rely on speakers stuck in things (frames, a branch) that don’t normally have speakers in them. Yun Hong’s green screen installation is best, and I grudgingly liked Hanyu Liao’s “The Best of Me,” a collar/torture device composed of welded selfie sticks angled to highlight Asian women’s most flattering features. But selfie sticks already clog drugstore clearance bins, and the show as a whole feels rather behind the times.
26
January
2019