Experiential cinematography: CCAD alum debuts video sculpture at ArtPrize

MFA alumna Liz Roberts' experiential video sculpture Always Nowhere is competing on a national stage at ArtPrize, a 19-day competition spanning more than 170 venues across Grand Rapids, MI.

An experiential marriage of fine art and cinematography, Always Nowhere taps into viewers' senses, giving them the sensation of riding or driving in a car that in reality is motionless. Moving footage plays inside the windows and mirrors of the four-door sedan.

“Always Nowhere is a video sculpture that transposes windows for screens, evoking the dualities that occur while riding in a car through the inherently cinematic experience of driving," Roberts wrote on her blog. "We are together but alone, sitting still but moving, passive but active.”

Roberts’ work is one of nearly 1,600 entries submitted from all over the world. Two grand prizes and eight category awards determined by public vote and a jury of art experts will be given out Oct. 10. The international competition has drawn 1.5 million visitors since its beginning in 2009.

Always Nowhere is on display at the Grand Rapids Art Museum through Oct. 12.

Roberts earned her BFA at the University of Iowa and currently lives in Delaware, OH.