VES 2016 Senior Thesis: Fabricated, Normally


  • Alistair Debling, Party Hunting (still), 2016, single channel video, 4 min. loop.

  • Alistair Debling, Party Hunting (still), 2016, single channel video, 4 min. loop. 

  • Installation view, Alistair Debling, War Room (detail). Sert Gallery, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts.

  • Lydia Burns, 1960-1964, 2016, digital collage, 34 x 24 in.

  • Lydia Burns, Aug 15,1949, 2016, digital collage, 26 x 18 in.

  • Installation view, Lydia Burns. Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Level 1, Apr 29-May 26, 2016.

  • C. H. Choi, Misbehavior Under Control, 2016, mixed media, dimensions variable.

  • C. H. Choi, Curtain Commune I (detail), 2016, graphite and acrylic medium on mulberry paper, 38 x 115 in.

  • Installation view. C. H. Choi, Curtain Commune I, 2016, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Apr 29-May 26, 2016.

  • Daniel Citron, that I wake, 2016, virtrual reality narrative, 20 min. 

  • Daniel Citron, that I wake, 2016, virtrual reality narrative, 20 min. 

  • Renee Zhan, Hold Me Ca Caw Ca Caw (still), 2016, watercolor and digital medium, 10 min.

  • Renee Zhan, Hold Me Ca Caw Ca Caw (still), 2016, watercolor and digital medium, 10 min.

  • Installation view. Renee Zahn, Hold Me Ca Caw Ca Caw, 2016. Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Apr 29-May 26, 2016.


Exhibition

Apr 29 – May 26, 2016
Level 1 + Level 3, Sert Gallery

For many Visual and Environmental Studies students, the Senior Thesis is the capstone experience in the department. Students conceive their theses in conjunction with the department and work closely with faculty members as principal advisers. Throughout the yearlong process, students develop and refine their ideas into a thesis work, concluding with its presentation in this annual exhibition. 

Fabricated, Normally is the title students have crafted for their group exhibition. Collectively students are questioning and challenging what is considered “real” today, as so much of our culture is increasingly fabricated. The uncertainty of authenticity is commonplace, from digitally-constructed versions of landscapes on television and film, to the news media determining singular worldviews, to the unrequited promise of “all natural.” This uncertainty remains ever-pervasive. 

The Department of Visual and Environmental Studies is home to a range of studio and theoretical studies in the arts at Harvard University. It offers courses in painting, drawing, sculpture, film, video, and animation, as well as photography, film history, the built environment, and contemporary art. The academic experience transpires in the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, where thinking and making intersect to enable students from a variety of disciplinary studies to be aware of their visual environment.