Alumni Q&A: Rebecca Sass, Visual Arts & Technology '19
Sass, a recent alumna of the College of Arts and Letters, looks back on her final school project and the creative process leading up to this creative expression.
Your project was definitely an experience for everyone in the room, but can you describe the work for those who didn't get to see it in person?
The Rules Around Eggs was an interactive installation that prompted the audience to throw eggs at a dining room setting painted entirely white. This project sought to explore our relationships with impulse and destruction while also displaying my own personal belief that eggs are just really really weird.
What do you hope or expect viewers will feel when taking in the work? How did you hope people would feel when throwing eggs?
I hope viewers react in a number of ways while they're viewing the work. I wanted people to feel a bit of disgust after seeing the mess we made, but also the satisfaction of finally getting to destroy something so perfect at the start. I could tell there was a lot of anticipation and excitement while people were throwing the eggs, and everyone in the crowd felt an energetic release after having to hold the eggs for so long prior. The energy was amazing!
What inspired this work?
Initially, this project was difficult to explain and was simply built off the fact that I thought eggs were uncomfortably weird. I wanted to make people feel a similar discomfort, but I also wanted to explore my own thoughts and why exactly I felt this way.
What tools or technology did you use during the creative process?
A lot of experimentation went into the planning of this project and ultimately influenced how I would set up for the final result. I painted a lot of objects white, experimented with different paint colors to put inside the eggs, and gathered whoever I could to help me with test runs. Filming and recording audio during each experiment was vital because it helped me review how people were reacting, and I could make decisions on how I could influence their involvement.
What are the skills you learned at Stevens that you believe will be most useful for your career?
I had zero technical skills when it came to artistic software when I arrived at Stevens and everything I've learned I owe to my amazing professors. I've also had countless opportunities to work with technology I never encountered before, and I plan to continue exploring the bridge between art and tech.