“The Ideal Cloud”

Emcee C.M., Master of None, A Work of Art: Spontaneous Soundtrack Department

Photograph: Courtesy ISE Cultural Foundation

In contrast to the compact pieces in Andrea Rosen’s “1950s–1960s Kinetic Abstraction” exhibit last summer, the works offered by three contemporary artists in “The Ideal Cloud” are sprawling, mechanized sculptures. These pieces depart from the formalist foundations of art and technology by engaging with sentimentality. Ordinarily this would spell trouble, but whatever maudlin qualities the show might have had are offset by either the materials employed or the opportunity for audience participation.

For example, Emcee C.M., Master of None’s project inviting viewers to express their thoughts on a typewriter sitting alongside a small projected film, evokes a little too much nostalgia for the medium. However, the messages—observations ranging from PAVEMENT IS A GOOD BAND TO I DIDN’T WANT TO BE A CHEERLEADER FOR ART, NOW I CHEER FOR MYSELF—add a surprising layer of unpredictability to the piece.

Ian Burns and Miguel Palma demand less interaction from the audience. The delicate perfection of Burns’s live video feed of a tiny nondescript flag flying against a rotating salad bowl reveals a pride of ownership and a sense of national identity imposed on common objects.

Palma’s arresting 360° features a large model plane with hairdryers for jet engines—the heat from which spins a disk with a blue sky printed on it. Palma’s evocation of the possibility of eco-friendly fuels is a bit idyllic, but given the theme of the show, understandable. Kinetic art implicitly supports the notion that innovation begets progress, an idea that’s proven empowering to artists and inventors alike.