USM Panel & Exhibit Explore Teen Violence

In the wake of school shootings in Santee, California and Williamsport, Pa., artists, educators and police are coming together for a panel discussion on the effects of computer games on teenage violence.

The panel discussion, "Virtual Violence: Does our Recreation Recreate Us?," will be held at 7 p.m. this Wednesday, March 14, in USM’s Luther Bonney Auditorium, Portland. Panelists include artist Kathleen Ruiz; Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood, USM Associate Professor of Criminology Dusan Bjelic; USM Assistant Professor of Communication & Media Studies Woong Park; and family counselor Rich Lewis of Spring Harbor Counseling. Carolyn Eyler, director of the USM Art Gallery, will serve as moderator.

It is free and open to the public. For more information, call 780-5009 or 780-5008.
The panel discussion is being held in conjunction with a new interactive multimedia exhibition, also on the theme of the effects of computer games on teenage violence.
“Virtual Shooter,” featuring the work of internationally exhibited artist Kathleen Ruiz, opens Thursday, March 15 and runs through Saturday, May 5, in the USM Art Gallery, College Ave., Gorham. Ruiz, whose work has been featured in The New York Times, creates interactive virtual environments and digital photographs that explore the role of perception in structuring consciousness and influencing behavior. She will discuss her work in a free, public lecture at 4 p.m., Thursday, 15 in USM’s Bailey Hall, Gorham. An opening reception will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Art Gallery.

This exhibition is sponsored by the Boston Cyberarts Festival, the USM
Student Senate, USM Student Activities, and USM Cultural Affairs Committee. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesdays -Fridays, and 1 to 4 p.m., Saturdays. For more information, call 780-5009.

Ruiz, a college professor, first got the idea for this exhibit eight years ago when taking her computer imaging class to see a virtual reality gaming center. She quickly realized that something powerful was happening. "Some of the calmest students were so worked up, killing everything, that they actually came out sweating," she recalls.

In the resulting exhibition, visitors will encounter an altered experience of a video arcade. Mural-size vinyl photos of computer game participants, enlarged from digital snapshots, create a cinematic illusion of guns being aimed in different directions that catch the viewer in an imaginary crossfire. A white wooden prototype of a gaming console features not a game, but a videotape depicting real-life participants engrossed in violent virtual games. In another area of the gallery, one can play a computer game designed by Ruiz that is projected onto the wall. The player can shoot at the images while sitting on a toy chest and clicking a mouse -- a surrogate for a gun that aims and fires at the objects. However, instead of killing people, the player shoots at images of dead bodies that revive, then walk away to the sounds of harps and other soothing music. When exiting, visitors can write on a comment wall papered with Ruiz's prints of real and toy guns.

“Virtual Shooter” satirizes the seductive nature of traditional "first person shooter" games, exploring the thin line between fantasy and reality. In creating this exhibit, Ruiz collaborated with Sarah Plant, the sound designer, and her students Rich Czyzewski, programming designer; Christina Frolish, assistant 3D modeler; and James Baumgartner, video editing.
Ruiz's art is represented by The Sandra Gering Gallery in New York City and has been exhibited at numerous galleries, museums, and alternative spaces in the United States, Europe and Asia, including The Center for Contemporary Art in Linz, Austria; Galerie Froment & Putnam, Paris, France; The Kitchen, New York; The School of Art at The Cooper Union; and The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pa. Her work has been reviewed in many newspapers and magazines including The New York Times and Aperture, and she is the recipient of several grants and awards and a New York City Percent for Art Commission. Ruiz has developed an MFA digital arts pedagogy program for New York University, The School of Visual Arts, and currently is assistant professor of electronic arts and information technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.