He Said, We Said

What sets Michael Genovese apart from most artists is that the Miami-based talent typically engages an audience as part of his creative process. And the ambitious proposal that snagged him the 2012 Visiting Artist title at the Frost Art Museum is no different. Genovese created 60 baked, enamel-coated aluminum discs and installed them throughout the Florida International University campus and other South Florida spots where people congregate. Then he invited passersby to carve their thoughts, beliefs, or ideas upon them, riffing on 15 different themes, including “dreams,” “faith,” “stereotypes,” and “censorship.” Those who engaged the works left a lexicon of symbols and multilingual commentary that invested the objects with an unusual Rosetta Stone-like nature. The public input doesn’t end there. A second group of folks was recruited to interpret these “P.S.” plates by transcribing the scribbles and markings into text, creating an online archive recording the wildly disparate descriptions. The artist then filtered these reactions and commentaries to create his own original body of work. The result is “P.S.-P.P.S.,” an artist’s call-and-response dialogue with all kinds of broader implications.
Tuesdays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sundays, 12-5 p.m. Starts: April 24. Continues through May 27, 2012