CADRE Show Review

The exhibition I went to was the CADRE show at Lake Tahoe Community College.  The first thing you see when walking through the door was a tub of cubes decorated as blocks from the game Minecraft.  It's clear that people are meant to build things using the blocks as you would in the actual game.  While being the literal centerpiece of the show, the Minecraft blocks also summed up the theme of the show.  Most of the works featured were centered around video games, and had a creative and playful tone to them.  Two of the more eye catching pieces in the room were what looked like old arcade style game stations.  Each station featured multiple games, single and multiplayer, many with different gameplay mechanics and unique art styles.  One game was based around drawings made by a small toddler.  Another piece featured a browser game where touching or clicking a place on a screen spawned in a solid black block.  Anyone can contribute from any internet browser, so multiple people could work together to make certain shapes, or try to mess up the other's work.  One of the more interesting and thought provoking works at the show was a project where cell phones were placed in the desert near the Mexican border.  These phones pointed the way to stockpiles of clean water in order to help people illegally crossing into America.  It is clear to see why this would get people talking and create controversy.  Someone with strong opinions opposing illegal immigrants might see this project as
anti American or some sort of betrayal, while someone with different opinions might see the phones as a way to help another person, human to human.  Although this work isn't a game, it is still an innovative and alternative use of a technology that everyone is familiar with.  This project is a good example of how art and technology can really make a difference in someone's life.