Works by Thomas Demand, Martha Colburn, and Jennifer and Kevin McCoy installed

[Left to right] Thomas Demand, Rain, 2008; Martha Colburn, Myth Lab, 2008; Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, Traffic #1: Our Second Date, 2004
Thomas Demand's Rain is a 35mm film in which Demand has painstakingly re-created the effect of raindrops falling onto a hard surface. The precision with which these raindrops are rendered matches the handcrafted models he is known for in his photographs, and this work exhibits a similar interest in the simulation of the real that questions the parameters of representation. The raindrops dance across the screen, their movement creating an abstract painting in motion. The rhythmic patter offers a meditative soundtrack that reinforces the haunting quality of the film. Martha Colburn's Myth Labs presents an extended metaphor in which America's founding myths are likened to so many unstable elements as if cooked up in a methamphetamine lab. Colburn posits drug use, violence, and religious indoctrination as interconnected elements in American history. Through clever juxtapositions, Colburn conflates past and present, linking contemporary social issues with the first contact between Pilgrims and Native Americans. The pulsing musical soundtrack is an integral aspect of this work and it appears as if the music is the catalyst that drives the narrative forward. Traffic #1: Our Second Date emphasizes the ways in which cultural phenomena become integrated into and shaped by personal histories. This work re-imagines the traffic-jam scene from the 1967 Jean-Luc Godard film Week End, which the couple saw together in Paris. A meticulously constructed miniature diorama occupies a rotating tabletop. As it turns, cameras project the changing scenes from Godard's movie onto the gallery wall, and the piece as a whole merges the sculptural with the cinematic.