[Apple/apple (Beta) by Dan Silverstein and Dave Tolchinsky. Picture credit: Tom Van Eynde] Crossing Wires: Technology and Play :: until April 15, 2012 :: Evanston Art Center, 2603 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL.

Technology has traditionally been used to make what functions function faster, easier and more efficiently. We expect computers, robots and machines to continue to take over the performance of chores and ramp up the production of goods. But what happens when technology is used for the non-functional, to make what is functional less functional? What happens when technology, especially complex technology, is used simply for … art or for play?

In setting out to curate this show, we envisioned work that subverted functionality in favor of amusement and absurdity. Imagine if you will a colossal Rube Goldberg, whose only purpose is to break an egg. But the more we considered works that attracted us, including those that were Goldbergesque, the more we realized that play is paradoxically serious and often has urgent underpinnings.

Here we present ten artists wrestling with a host of contemporary topics ranging from the impact of technology on our bodies to the reverberations of technology on the environment to the subjectivity of time. Whether seriously playful or playfully serious, we hope the works in Crossing Wires: Technology and Play provoke reflection and conversation.

Curated by Barbara Blades and Debra Tolchinsky

Artists: Christopher P. Baker, France Cadet, Chaz Evans, Christopher Furman, Tiffany Holmes, Joseph Kohnke, Ozge Samanci, Dan Silverstein, Dave Tolchinsky, Toby Zallman