Graduate art student explores intersections of human, technology
Art Department graduate student Nikita Gale created her masters' thesis based off her experiences with cars, technology, and human interaction. Gale, along with two other graduate students, exhibited her work in the New Wight Gallery.
Nikita Gale and her then-girlfriend’s voices rose in pitch and anticipation as they sat parked in front of a gas station in late spring 2015 weighing the pros and cons of abandoning weekend plans in Joshua Tree and driving to Vegas to get married.
As they spoke, Gale’s iPhone recorded their 10-minute conversation. A video of a Google Maps app, which navigates through the places they spoke about, is now the centerpiece of Gale’s graduate thesis.
Gale said the interconnected relationships with people and technology, like her usage of Google Maps in her car, led to the creation and development of her fine arts graduate thesis work. She and two other graduate students’ works will be featured in an exhibition opening Thursday at the New Wight Gallery on campus. Gale said her observations of people and cars influenced her to create works examining themes of control in interactions between humans and technology.
She said the recording from her car reveals a loss of control as the two speak idealistically about their idea, losing sight of reason.
“There’s a moment in the conversation … where there’s this kind of excitement, where you get the sense that there is some kind of relinquishing of control happening,” Gale said.
Yet as the recording goes on, the two voices gradually become calm again, restoring order as they make a logical decision to follow their original plan of spending the weekend in Joshua Tree. — Kayla Hausmann, Apr. 14, 2016
Read the full article at the Daily Bruin website.