Paul Vanouse and Tina Ryan's 'Difference Machines' Featured on WGRZ News

BUFFALO, N.Y. — One of the very first things you'll see when you walk into the Albright-Knox Northland facility these days is two computers set up along a black statement wall with pink flowers. Each machine sits underneath a framed photo of Kanye West. 

It's a game called “Ye or Nay.”

“It’s basically like a digital version of Guess Who or Battleship, where each player is assigned a random character, and your goal is to guess the other person’s character," Tina Ryan of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery told 2 On Your Side. "The twist is every single character is a black male celebrity, including Kanye West, and there’s multiple Kanyes from throughout his life.“

The creation is the work of game designer A.M. Darke, and part of the Difference Machines exhibit now on display at AK Northland. Ryan and Paul Vanouse are the co-curators.

“Normally when you go to an art museum you may not expect to see works that move, that change. That are interactive. That are things that you can touch," Ryan said. "But this show specifically features new media art, which is art that uses technology, like video technologies, or computers, or the internet.”

The pieces take a closer look at how these technologies have contributed to systematic inequality and social injustices, with a focus on empowerment.

• Author: Lauren Hall (WGRZ)
  
• Published: 7:03 AM EST December 28, 2021
• Updated: 8:11 AM EST December 28, 2021