By ANNIE STODOLA

Contributing Reporter

Students, faculty and the public can get a taste of the city at the Contemporary Flânerie exhibition at the Oakland University Art Gallery.

Vagner Whitehead, professor of studio art, is the curator for the exhibit. A flâneur is one that walks through the city just for the experience. With this idea in mind, Whitehead selected 28 artists from around the world to create works for the exhibitition.

“Living in a metropolitan area where walking is almost non-existent also motivated me,” Whitehead said. “I see the action of the flâneur and the flâneuse as a form of recapturing or rescuing the urban space.”

Contemporary Flânerie is a group of 17 video pieces, two browser art pieces and eight photo-based pieeces.

“[The artworks] are multicultural and conceptual in nature, inspired by personal experiences and history, literature and cinema, as well as critical theories,” Whitehead said.

The gallery was painted black to simulate the feeling of walking through a city at night. Different city sounds, including dog barking, is heard when walking through the gallery. Each piece works with the city theme.

A series of photos entitled 65-Point Plan for Sustainable Living has to do with landscape development and architectural environments. In a video called “Medicare,” two artists sing about different discarded medication bottles in Chinese pharmacies.

In addition to the photos and videos, there is an interactive exhibit called Ghost City on a computer in the inner gallery. Guests can interact with animated graphics and go through various levels of the computer-created city.

One piece is a video channel that loops several different pieces, including one with a song about Chinese medicine bottles.

Whitehead said he thinks all members of the campus community should take advantage of the gallery.

“Art is not only for art-savvy people; there is always something that relates to the diversity of areas of studies undertaken at this university,” Whitehead said. “I hope students investigate the strategies used by these artists and consider employing their own variations around their own communities.”

Contemporary Flânerie runs through Sunday, April 12 at the OU Art Gallery, at 208 Wilson Hall. The gallery is open from from noon – 5 p.m. It’s also open during evening Meadow Brook Theatre performances. Visit www.oakland.edu/ouag for information about the exhibit or the OU art gallery.