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The Front room presents The Ballot Show October 28th–November 21st Opening Reception: Thursday October 28th 7–9 Fri–Sun 1–6 The Front Room is proud to present "The Ballot Show," with works by: Amanda Alic, Oscar Alzate, Daniel Aycock, Gary Baldwin, David Cohen, Ethan Crenson, Anne Cypcar, Chris Dam, Madeline Djerejian, Mark Esper, Doug Groupp, Sean Hemmerle, Eric Hollender, Craig Kane, Jerelyn Hanrahan, Breuk Iverson, Jennifer Kuipers, Meghan LeBorious, John Parker, William Powhida, Susannah Ray, Joy Robles, Jeremy Slater, Jay Soonthornsawad, Rodger Stevens, Ruth Stringer, Leah Stuhltrager, Miho Suzuki, Kathleen Vance, Jenny Walty, Monika Wuhrer. Since the 2000 presidential election, when the now-infamous butterfly ballot fiasco in Palm Beach County, Fla., put ballot design on newspapers' front pages, there have many questions brought up about the fairness/effectiveness of the U.S. system of ballots, polls and the electoral college. A study carried out by USA Today and seven other newspapers in 2001 concluded that faulty design, not punch-card machines, was responsible for voters' confusion in Palm Beach County in 2000. Despite this finding, states have focused their election-reform energies on upgrading old punch-card machines to optical-scan systems or on implementing electronic voting. They have dismissed or ignored the butterfly layout's problematic design as an aberration. In "The Ballot Show," the artists have created work that comments on the whole idea of voting with a ballot. The work, while often political in nature, but not always, spans the spectrum of artistic expressions. Through the mediums of painting, photography, sculpture, video, and audio installations the artists have given the viewer the opportunity to make a choice, visual or actual. The Front Room is at 147 Roebling St. (on the corner of Roebling and Metropolitan). |