MEGAN BERNER

Mixed media installation
2008

This is an installation I did over the summer at the Tacoma Contemporary (TaCo) in downtown Tacoma, Washington. It is housed in an old Woolworth's building.

From the press release: "Megan Berner's work is focused on the idea of the daydream and its effects on plant and animal life and their environments. In the world she creates, grass, vines and butterflies have been allowed to invade a living room and leave their mark. By creating a setting in which life has been allowed to pause, Berner hopes to capture the mark left behind by such dreams."

Mixed media installation
custom made 9 foot by 5 foot bean bag, video projection with sound, origami butterflies
2007

"Wallow for Daydreaming" is a space created for relaxing and letting one's mind wander. It invites the viewer to interact with the space by lying down on a bed-size bean bag while looking up at origami butterflies and their shadows and listening to the sounds of birds and crickets.

Daydreaming is often looked at as a non-productive activity—something disconnected from reality and clearly antithetical to our action-based society. This installation encourages the viewer to take the time to slow down and use their imagination.

Mixed media installation
2007

"Cultivate" is an installation including live grass, grow lights, video, and photography. The installation centers around themes of growth, process, and creation. In conjunction with the gallery opening, visitors were invited to participate directly in the creation of a community garden by planting seeds. The participants were then given a card with their plant number on it and the address to a website where they can track the growth of their plant and the progress of the garden.

Mixed media installation
curtains, chair, video projection
2007

"The View From Here" is an installation intended for one person. In a room, there is a single chair placed in front of a video that is projected onto the wall. Transparent curtains frame the projection and some of the light spills onto and through the curtains. The room is otherwise empty.

The video is of a single shot through a window looking out over the rooftops at the sea and sky. The window serves as a means of transporting oneself into another world. It takes the viwer into another place yet simultaneously denies them entry. The installation creates a space for meditation and daydreaming guided by the view out the window and the sounds wafting in from the street below. There is much movement and action taking place alluded to by the sound—traffic on a busy street, conversations drifting up from below, piano music, the wind—yet the image is very calm, containing very slow movement, almost imperceptible at times.

Mixed media installation
Constructed photobooth with video camera, TV monitor, and single channel video
2005-2007

"Photobooth" is an ongoing art piece that involves viewer participation. In the first iteration of the piece, visitors were invited to come sit in the booth and pose for a series of four photographs. In another version of "Photobooth," the video that was recorded from that process was shown on a monitor placed inside the photobooth that could be viewed from the viewpoint of the camera.