Bricking and Blacklights at CACNO

Two new exhibits open at the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans this month, from artists James Hoff and Jacqueline Humphries: An infected computer, overloaded and unsalvageable with malware, is considered "bricked." That dud status is the inspiration for artist James Hoff's B=R=I=C=K=I=N=G. The exhibit consists of three parts: Hoff's "virus paintings," a sound installation, and a wall intervention—with Hoff actually filtering his images and sounds through the types of viruses used in cyber espionage. Evident throughout is the artist's engagement with technology, popular and political culture, and the intentional and unintentional disruptions therein. Jacqueline Humphries brings silver and blacklight paintings to her eponymous exhibit, her first solo museum display in more than a decade and the first held in her hometown of New Orleans. With metallic canvases densely layered and atmospheric, activated by the space around them, Humphries' silver works respond to shifting natural light and change with the viewers' movements. Her blacklight paintings similarly emit light only when triggered by ultraviolet bulbs; they aim to evoke the feeling of watching and being watched.

Both exhibits open on November 19 and run until February 28, 2016. cacno.org.