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One Wrong Step...and BOOM!

By Quynhanh Do

| Wednesday, Apr 1, 2009 | Updated 10:38 AM PST

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Whenever a visitor steps on a sensor, it triggers a motion-controlled video projector that starts playing images and video on the gallery walls about the effects anti-personnel mines have on people.

Watch out for land mines (ok, maybe fake ones) the next time you set foot on campus at UC San Diego. In a sort of pseudo-real life minesweeper game, the gallery@calit2 is launching a new indoor-outdoor art exhibition next month, Anti-Personnel Mines Project, by Carlos Trilnick, that uses sensors and art to raise awareness about the dangers of anti-personnel land mines.

Starting April 16 and on view for a week, students will see whole grassy areas in the engineering courtyard off the Warren Mall part of campus sectioned off with yellow-and-black hazard tape. Signs will be will be posted with the ominous warning “Danger – Minefield – Do Not Proceed.” A panel discussion and reception will also take place the same day from 5pm-8pm.

There will also be an interactive indoor gallery on the first floor of Atkinson Hall that runs through June 10. Here, artificial turf will be installed to simulate a field and hidden sensors will act as stand-ins for land mines. Whenever a visitor steps on a sensor, it sets off a loud explosion sound and triggers a motion-controlled video projector that starts playing images and video on the gallery walls about the effects anti-personnel mines have on people. The sensors are always changing so visitors can’t figure out where the next ‘mine’ will be.

The purpose of the exhibit is to call attention to the 42 countries, including the United States, that haven’t signed the 1999 Ottawa Treaty which prohibits the use of anti-personnel mines.

Exhibition

Interactive Installation:
April 16-June 10, 2009
Monday-Friday, 11am–5pm*
gallery@calit2
Atkinson Hall
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093
* [Note: Closed May 25 in observance of Memorial Day]