Our contested presidential elections are still being decided, 30 times per second, in Siebren Versteeg’s Nearly Half, Undecided, Balanced, Perfect, Dead. One of 11 software-based works by Versteeg at Rhona Hoffman, it consists of an LCD screen showing a U.S. map with each state colored red or blue–though a random-number generator makes the colors change quickly, while a bar at the bottom charts the rapidly fluctuating election results. When you wear the 3-D glasses available on a nearby shelf, the map flickers even more dynamically, bringing the viewer’s experience “back into the body,” Versteeg says. For him, the piece points out the limitations of the electoral college and of binary oppositions like the two-party system. Those who believe the 2000 and 2004 elections were improperly decided may find his playful approach insufficiently critical.
