BEALL Center for Art + Technology

It was a struggle finding this place, along with finding a parking spot. However, I must say it was very well worth it and I truly enjoyed this experience; being able to look at various kinds of art in a small little gallery sort of place was neat. Going in was very dark and mysterious, yet very lovely. Ariah and I were instantly greeted by the inflatable body right in the middle of the inflation process haha. From afar, it didn't seem like such a big deal, but the more I thought about it, the more curious I became. I asked myself, "How can air make something move?" It's just air... But this air does so many amazing things. We watched the body get inflated and uninflated and it was delightful seeing the whole thing happen right before our eyes.
    After seeing the first figure getting inflated, we went inside and saw the ballerina legs, before they were inflated. I tried to figure out what they were since they don't look like much without being inflated, but as the whole inflation process began, it became more clear as to what it was. Something that really surprised me was discovering how air's pressure can determine which direction something will go. For example, no pressure leaves the inflatable objects looking dead, maybe even unattractive. However, once the air machines start to do their job, we come to find life in these objects and it's the pressure which makes them look the way they look. The ballerina legs were spread out, yet a few minutes later I began to see how some started to move differently and I realized it was just all pressure. The more pressure they had, the higher and firmer they stood. With less pressure, the lower everything stood. The same thing occurred with the space shuttle thing. When more pressure was added, the inflation process was complete, making it look like a strong, firm shuttle.
    We thought the 3 inflatable objects were the only things to look at.. until we "snuck" around and found a door which led us to another room with stuff totally different than what we had seen in the room before. It was actually a bunch of cool random stuff all created by students attending UCI. The following images are things we came across during our visit:

 The image above is what we first encountered when we made our entrance. It was in the middle of getting inflated, so watching this happen was very interesting.

 The image above is what I call the ballerina legs. Once they got inflated, several of them began going different directions due to the pressure.

 The image above was like some sort of space ship. Before getting inflated it just appeared lifeless and I had no clue what it was; however, after the inflation process was complete, I realized this was a space ship.

 The image above does not necessarily tell me much, besides the fact that it's not a test, but I just really caught my attention.. Because usually it is a test.

 The image above was so cool!! Probably my all time favorite. It was so weird seeing all these magazines floating without a bookshelf and I almost felt like just putting my hand under them in case one of them fell. I remember looking through them and seeing a bunch of Playboy magazines haha.

 The image above reminded me of what it's like getting out of the shower and being unable to see myself clearly due to the fog. It made me want to "try" taking the fog off to be able to look at the guy's face. Too bad it was permanent :(

  The photographs above were so mysterious. Almost creepy because they reminded me of the movie "The Blaire Witch Project." Also, it was interesting being able to see the room from different angles and it made me wonder what was outside these windows.

   Overall, my experience at the BEALL Center for Art and Technology was interesting. Although I cannot say it was my favorite place (LACMA was my favorite), I can say it was very different from stuff I've seen in the past. What I really liked about this place was that the art was created by current or former students. The reason why I liked this so much was because usually, when I've looked at artwork, all of the pieces have been created by some famous artist, one who I will more than likely never get to meet. This place was different, The creators of the art found in this place are not much older than me and it's somewhat inspirational knowing it can be anyone. I would definitely go back and take my family, I'm sure they would get a kick out of the inflatable bodies and much of the art would amuse them.