WFU hosting international exhibition “video ergo sum,” I video, therefore I exist

Wake Forest University’s Hanes Art Gallery and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) are joint venues in the final stop of the interactive video exhibition, “video ergo sum,” by peter campus.

peter campus’s “video ergo sum” is a single exhibition shared by two venues, Hanes Art Gallery (through Dec. 8), and SECCA (through Dec. 29). Reynolda House Museum of American Art is presenting works by peter campus in support of “video ergo sum” through Dec. 2.

SECCA will host a reception and conversation with peter campus and Valerie Hillings, director of the North Carolina Museum of Art on Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. with a reception at 6 p.m. Hillings and campus will discuss his work and the ongoing evolution of video as an artistic medium. The event is free and open to the public. Media are welcome.

Reynolda House will host a panel discussion with peter campus, moderated by Hanes Gallery Director Paul Bright, on Oct. 16 at 4:30 p.m. with a reception at 4 p.m. The artist will reflect on his career and offer insights into his work. Cristin Tierney (’93), owner of Cristin Tierney Gallery in New York; Parisian Curator Anne-Marie Duguet; Director, Weatherspoon Museum of Art Nancy Doll; and SECCA Installation Manager Cliff Dossel will participate on the panel. The event is free and open to the public. Media are welcome.

For visitors to Hanes Gallery, “video ergo sum” is experiential. One piece involves a delayed reaction, so that after the viewer walks past a video screen, their doppelganger appears to follow. Another piece, optical sockets, uses multiple screens projecting the viewer from different angles at the same time. Using 1970s technology and these live images, the artist’s work generates disconcerting repetitions of one’s own image.

“The work is completed once you walk into it,” said Bright. “The moment the viewer interacts with the work is when the work comes to life and perceptions of the everyday world begin to change.”