Video installation: Valerie Wedel exhibit at UW Tacoma gallery

An innovative video installation by new media artist Valerie Wedel is the focus of a new exhibit opening Feb. 27 at the University of Washington Tacoma art gallery.

In the exhibit, called "Remnants," a film is projected onto translucent fabric which has been hung in a loose spiral from ceiling to floor. Video is projected from opposite ends of the space, completely filling the spiral of fabric and encouraging viewers to walk into the space and experience being within the video projections. The exhibit runs through March.

"Instead of being a passive viewer, watching events unfold on a screen, [the visitor] is placed 'inside' the screen," Wedel says. "The words become texture as they float along the translucent panels and the movements of text within the video envelop the viewer much like flowing water or waterfalls. I want viewers to consider their own levels of comfort or discomfort under these conditions."

Wedel is a master of fine arts candidate at the University of Missouri, Columbia, where she earned a Donald Bartlett Memorial Scholarship and a Center for Arts and Humanities grant. As an emerging artist, she has mounted a number of solo installations and exhibited her work in several national group exhibitions.

Driven by a desire to connect with others, Wedel fabricates viewer-active installations that turn viewers into participants.

The gallery is located at 1742 Pacific Ave., across from Union Station. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays, or by appointment. For more information, contact Jamie Kelley at kellej2@u.washington.edu.