O-1 Visas
The discothèque is sometimes understood as a space of utopic possibility, where people of all sexualities and nationalities can join together in a euphoria of music and fabulousness. “American Dream Reflector,” a collaborative project by Yun Lee and Ian Kang recently on view at the OH Art Foundation in Bridgeport, is definitively not that kind of party. It features standard nightclub fare like rotating disco balls and a working smoke machine, but also a cacophony of AI-generated multilingual voices, adjustable with a hand-held game controller, and videos projected on the ceiling in a pair of mirrored images. The deadening effect of this audio-visual material runs counter to the marvelousness of spinning, smoky colored lights: the sounds are meaningless, despite being ostensibly modifiable, and the sights are dead boring, presenting the exteriors of suburban libraries and poorly simulated residential landscapes from Google Earth. That’s one version of contemporary American life, and no one should want to dance to it.
—Lori Waxman 2025-09-08 3:02 PM