Point Blank:Using blank billboards to make a point
This project was inspired by the desire to share inspiring quotes, provocative questions and powerful statements or suggestions by using some of the many blank billboards throughout the U.S. Van Wagner posted the above messages on recently purchased wall space on 47th St. and the West Side Highway in New York City. The messages, "Life is a daring adventure or nothing - Helen Keller" and "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent - Eleanor Roosevelt" were posted for the month of October 2005.
This is light installation in which the viewer approaches a mesh
panel, looks down a long hallway and focuses their eyes on a small
to immediately close their eyes and wait a few seconds in order to
read the message that was impressed on their retina, "Question Your
Assumptions".
The viewers must close their eyes in order to see.....pointing to the way people can look inward to find much of what they need in life, rather than believing their circumstances dictate how life "is". The light not only creates a physical imprint on the eyes, she hopes that what the viewer reads will also make an impression on their views of life.
The title is a double entendre, referring to the physiological effect that light causes on the retina and this piece was created after Linda's first trip to the Burning Man festival in 2002.