I love the Williams College Museum of Art, in  Williamstown, MA.

Yesterday, Sara and I drove over from Albany–and found one wonderful surprise after another.

First–Tristan Lowe’s Mocha-Dick: a life size white whale made of felt–modelled on a levianthan that once harrassed sailing vessels in the Pacific Ocean and inspired Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby Dick. Made out of industrial wool felt, the sculpture  appeared at Philadelphia’s Fabric Workshop and Museum in May 2009.  It’s accompanied by a film composed of film clips, cartoons, and commentary on whaling–but be warned–it has some gory moments.  Both the sculpture and film will be at WCMA through August 8, 2010.
Then: “The Girl Bends,” an exhibit exploring connections between art and feminism through sculpture, video, photography, and prints since the 1960s.

The exhibition features over 20 objects from the museum’s collection, including work by Lynda Benglis, Patty Chang, Ed Kienholz, Glenn Ligon, Ana Mendieta, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Carolee Schneemann, Kiki Smith, and Nancy Spero. This Girl Bends also highlights Kerry Stewart’s sculpture of carved crayons by the same name, just above.  Through Dec. 12, 2010.

Then, onto the fabulous Photography at the Frontier of Physics and Art, featuring the photos of Eadweard Muybridge, Harold Edgerton, Berenice Abbott, and Man Ray. Each of these photographers broke new ground in using photography to better understand physics–and emerged with astonishingly beautiful works of art.

 
Muybridge’s photos, in the 19th century, were forerunners of motion pictures–totally graceful horses; Edgerton used strobe lights to capture instants in motion (the shattering of a light bulb) for example; Abbot captured  light and motion in lab experiments, bubbles, Man Ray experimented with objects on photosensitive paper–all inspirational and a bit daunting to me, as a photographer myself. Through Dec. 12, 2010.

Check the Museum Website at http://www.wcma.org/exhibitions/additional_current_exhibitions.shtml for information about additional exhibits, directions, curators and closing dates–and do get there if you can! Admission is free but I’m sure that donations and gift shop purchases would be appreciated.

—Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA. We also publish Harriscom blog and Ithaca Diaries blog.

You don’t need to be a geek to get into some of the newest technology for keeping track of your health. I was blown away when I heard about pill bottle caps that will tell  you (or your doctor or your caretakers)  if you’ve forgotten to take your meds…a kazoo that measures the chemistry of the air from your lungs…and a telephone that can assess whether you’re depressed–from the tones of your voice.

These gizmos are the brainchildren of David Rose, an entrepreneur who is now the CEO of Vitality, Inc., in Cambridge.  Rose has also invented bathroom scales that can show whether you’ve lost or gained weight, an umbrella that can sense whether it’s going to rain, and objects that assess air quality.

Rose was one of four panelists who spoke last week at a program sponsored by the Medical Development Group about some astounding new health gadgets, most of which are actually on the market. (MDG is a Boston area organization for individuals involved in the medical device and technology industries). 

Rose focused on the above-mentioned pill bottle “Glo-Caps”, which “sense”  when a patient takes a medication, and, via a wireless Internet connection, show health care professionals, patients or caregivers whether reminders are needed.  

The caps light up, play a melody, and even ring a home phone to remind patients to take their pills.  The caps can send weekly emails to remote caregivers, create accountability with doctors through an adherence report, and automatically refill prescriptions. 

Glo-Caps are not currently available for purchase by individuals, but they are being used by patients enrolled in programs sponsored by certain health insurers and pharmacies.

Panelist Ben Rubin, Co-Founder and Chief Technology officer of Zeo, in Newton, MA, described Zeo’s novel  headset and device that monitor an individual’s REM sleep and factors influencing sleep patterns.  Knowing how well you sleep is important because sleep is closely tied to health conditions like obesity, depression, diabetes and the like, Rubin said. “If you measure it, you can manage it.” 

Zeo’s sleep devices, which cost $250,  connect to  an Internet site. For an additional $100, Zeo provides email advice coaching to help individuals improve their “sleep hygiene.” 

There’s also a  Smart Phone application designed to promote better sleep:  using the Ap, you put your phone under your pillow to measure your movement (and restlessness) during sleep.

Panelists also described glucose monitors that send data to doctors via patients’ Smart Phones and Nike running shoes that measure your steps. At one point, Rose pulled out a keychain that tells him whether he’s met his daily walking goals and whether he’s on track (ha ha) to meet his monthly goals.

Also mentioned  were Internet tools such as a Google Ap to measure flu trends; Healthmedia, through which Johnson & Johnson provides digital coaching for managing stress and chronic disease, Philips Direct, which provides live coaching over email, and various “calorie and other body monitors through which individuals can receive online coaching through gyms.

All of these devices fall under a category moderator David Barash, MD, CEO of Concord [MA] Health Strategies calls “local health monitoring” –meaning that the devices can be used by patients or consumers almost anywhere–rather than just at home or in a hospital,  doctor’s office or lab.

 According to a recent review by my client, Scientia Advisors, “remote health monitoring” devices are the fastest growing category in a booming home health care market. 

The devices are growing in popularity in sync with an aging population, increasing chronic disease, and new Internet technologies, Barash said.

Panelist Frank McGillin, Vice President of Global Marketing for Philips Healthcare, which markets a variety of home monitoring devices, said  remote monitoring  will become increasing important in light of growing health care costs.

Gillin cited government statistics showing that  health care current accounts for 17.6 percent of the  gross domestic product in the US, and that by 2050, half of the population in the developed world will be chronically ill—making traditional medical care  fiscally overwhelming. 

Devorah Klein, PhD, a principal at Continuum, in Newton, MA, who designs devices and evaluates patient adherence to therapy regimes for diabetes, asthma, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and erectile dysfunction, emphasized that  simple designs are key because “many patients are not all that interested” in learning to use devices.

And Barash pointed out that while many consumers may be intrigued by these gizmos, doctors have been slow to embrace them.

 For one thing, with a dearth of clinical trials to assess devices’ effectiveness, insurers are reluctant to reimburse doctors for evaluating the data thus compiled.

For another,  it’s not clear how doctors can manage or assess  potentially large amounts of additional data, or  how data collected for individual conditions can be assessed in relation to data collected elsewhere for other, possibly related, conditions.

–Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is published by the Harris Communications Group, a  writing  and public relations firm in Cambridge, MA.  All rights reserved.

Roni Horn AKA Roni Horn is a must-see restrospective by painter/photographer/sculptor/poet named…you guessed it:  “Roni Horn.” 

At Boston’s  Institute of Contemporary Art, the show, the first to compile such a large body of her work,  explores the changing nature of identity and perception.

In several galleries, the show  does so through photographic portraits of the artist and others at different stages of life.  

On the ICA’s first floor, photographs of the artist juxtapose images of her looking  traditionally masculine with others in which she appears “traditionally feminine–” from early childhood to the present.

On the fourth floor,   large portaits of her niece, also taken at different ages,  show slightly different expressions, moods, attitudes– are repeated, Warhol-like, in photo after photo.

Another gallery features pairs of seemingly identical photos of the heads and necks of owls and other birds taken from behind. 

Yet another includes two identical? photos of a white owl on a black perch.

Dead Owl, 1998

An ICA brochure explains  that many of Horne’s works are  “composed as pairs, series or with multiple sides, inviting us to notice subtle yet infinte difference between their parts. ”

I was particularly intrigued and impressed with Horn’s large format photographs of water in nature–roiling, calm, on rocks, with glints of sun–many taken of London’s River Thames–and Horn’s accompanying poetic commentary on the changing nature of water and our perception of it. 

Still Water, 1999

The “water” gallery  also includes two glass sculptures–one largely clear and white, the other mostly black–which, at times,  appear to be receptacles filled with water but have surfaces that seem to change shape. 

  Through a doorway in this gallery, the viewer can see out onto the water in Boston Harbor–highlighting all the more our involvement in/relation to/changing perception of the substance that is part and parcel of our existence–but can also destroy us.  

I also enjoyed Horn’s colorful glass sculptures–one, entitled “Pink Tons” , is the largest chunk of glass ever cast; the other, a  red  hassock-like piece with a squished-in corner that reminded me of a gigantic “gummy bear.”

Pink Tons

Both appeared to change in form and texture depending on the viewer’s vantage point. 

“Peer over the top of Pink Tons’ opaque cast sides into a seemingly liquid center that reacts to the atomsospheric changes of Boston’s light and weather. This five-ton glass cube is at once imposing and inviting, brutish yet pink, ”  the  brochure explains.

“Integrating difference is the basis of identity, not the exclusion of it,” Horn writes. “You are this and this and that….”

Not only is each work beautiful and provocative in itself–but the show as a whole,  which integrates a multitude of media and art forms,  is a brilliant expression encorporating the artist’s multiple talents and perceptions –and our own.  

—Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group. We also publish HarrisCom Blog and Ithaca Diaries Blog.

I was  watching Judge (Madam, you’re an idiot)  Judy  on TV when out of the corner of my eye a brown furry-looking thing the size of my  shoe  scurried under the sofa I was lying on.

Eeek!

 In Math of Publishing Meets the E-Book  ( New York Times , Feb. 28, 2010)  reporter Motoko Rich considers mainly publishers’ profits in her article about the current debate about the pricing of  e-books versus printed ones. She does point out, however, that authors, earning 15% on a book that sells for $26,  would come away with almost $3.90 after paying back any advances on royalties.