Scan-Tron
Digital Video Animation 3min
2003
Jennifer Schmidt

Referencing the recording and reading of responses embedded within a series of fabricated standardized test sheets, the techno pop graphics of Scan-Tron become mentally charged with viable questions and patterns of decision-making. During the months of November, December, and January 2003, Jennifer Schmidt responded to a series of test forms-- filling in answers with a #2 pencil-- according to a given set of rules and unknown objectives.

http://www.jenniferschmidt.com/images/gallery/scaninstallation.html http://www.jenniferschmidt.com/images/gallery/scan.html

Scantron Tests: designed and offset printed by Jennifer Schmidt
Video Animation of Scantron Tests: Jennifer Schmidt
Sound co-produced by L.Contra.

Artist Statement

"What is real is therefore always overshot by what we bring to it in the form of expectation, desire and feeling." - Bachelard Most of my creative projects are inspired by the everyday objects and linguistic commonplaces of American culture. I use, re-arrange, and re-present these ordinary materials and signs in order to explore notions of individual identity, objectivity/subjectivity, history/fable, and the inherent value implied by a gesture or act of intervention. Many of my artworks can be read as waves, signals of hello or goodbye, in which the meaning of the work exists in the participants ability to infer meaning based on their knowledge of everyday symbols, beliefs, situational context. Through punning titles, I extend open-ended invitations for attributing meaning to the explicit text and materials used in the physical manifestation of the work. The resemblance, identification, and reciprocity of information after being presented with givens is the process by which I approach the world around me. (I like to read into things.)

 
Jennifer Schmidt is a multi-disciplinary artist who often works with printed media and graphic design to create sculptural installations, video, and screenprinted ephemera. Many of her artworks can be read as waves, signals of hello or goodbye, in which the meaning of the work exists in the viewer's ability to infer meaning based on their knowledge of everyday symbols, beliefs and situational context. She enjoys using punning titles, and likes to read, as well as, feel her way into things. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1999 and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Studio Art and Art History from the University of Delaware in 1997. She teaches screenprinting within the Print Media department at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. Recent exhibitions and screenings include: Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, 50th International Film Festival Oberhausen, Germany, Letters in a Coma, Jen Bekman Gallery, New York, NY, Independant Film Festival, Naples, Italy, Video Pool, Winnipeg, Canada, AIM V:SYZYGY, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA, Ocularis, Brooklyn, NY, Repeat, Transport Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, Suddenly, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE,OCD, Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA, Repo(session)s, Gallery 312, Chicago, IL, Experimental Sound, Video and Film Programmation, Institute Jean Vigo, Perpignan, France. Recent publications include: Collezioni:Edge Magazine, May/June 2002, Eleven Bulls Online Magazine, May 2002, and Big Red and Shiny Online Magazine, February 2004. She has received numerous awards and reviews including articles in NYarts Magazine, New Art Examiner, Art New England, Philadelphia Art Matters, the Boston Globe, and the Boston Phoenix

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