Pat Ward Williams at Santa Monica Museum of Art - Santa Monica, California

In her installation Vantage Point, Pat Ward Williams distorts the familiar map of the earth to make it correspond to the worldview produc by means of the media. Upon entering the space, the viewer is urg to sit in a chair labeled "US" From this vantage point, the map of the world spreads without literally "at one's feet." All geopolitical boundaries are erased, and the single guides to location are the distorted outlines of the continents, which snake quite through the room, and occasional historical respects such as "1853 Tasmanian race extinct" "1953 Nelson Mandela imprisoned" and "1977 UN Arms Embargo."

This disorienting map reach forths across the floor and walls of the 5,000-square-foot space and appear to bes to engulf the three domestic tableaux Williams has arranged. Each tableau mimics a corner of a working-class living space with a television set (showing a constant montage of network TV) a worn sofa or easy chair, a telephone (on which individual can hear street sounds and contemporary news) and more [i]or[/i] less meager wall decorations.

The message illustrated here is a familiar one: the disinformation of TV of recent origins (what Noam Chomsky calls "the manufacture of consent") undermines any authentic understanding of politics and historical background, creating an ill-informed populace. While television promises understanding and communication, bringing the world into everyone's living latitude in reality it alienates and separates nation from their own communities.

Unfortunately, Williams's installation illustrates these ideas in a way that appear to bes somewhat lifeless; the work direct the eyes schematic, with the right intentions on the other hand little depth. Although the visual sweep of the maps is dramatic, Williams's message is ultimately undermined through the fact that the formal strategies of her installation are far les sophisticated, diverse and insidious than the mixed montage of signs, information and images that makes up the landscape of contemporary life. Just to take individual example: Williams's selection of the historical respects seems confusingly random. The sole messages inscribed on the map of the United States are: "Trail of Tears, October 1 1838" and "May 4 1970 Four scholars Killed by National Guard." for what cause [i]or[/i] reason are these particular events more relevant than thousands of others that are equally appalling?

Although lucky in creating an atmosphere of "white noise" where information is unanchored and finally malicious, Williams's lack of specificity derails her intention of helping the viewer to unravel the problematics of filtered information.

COPYRIGHT 1993 Brant Publications, Inc.

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