The installation “The War of The Worlds” by Hu Renyi, resonates with the sensibility of the two literary works in the Western tradition. One is 20th century American and one is 6th Century Greek . Orson Wells’ “War of the Worlds” is a radio play first performed live in the "Mercury Theatre on the Air,” in New York City. More familiar in world literature, “Allegory of the Cave” is a philosophical treatise written by Plato to challenge students at the academy where he taught. Each of these works of literature shows us how ignorance and rigid beliefs about human behavior can cloud our perceptions and lead to inadequate or disastrous adaptations to an evolving world.

Renyi half fills the gallery wall with hand-sized flat black protozoa shapes that appear to be climbing the walls, perhaps losing their hold and falling back to earth. These two dimensional graphic shadows are interrupted by cool LED lights that appear to glow from the ambiguous organic figures. One very large shape dominates the lower half of the frame appearing to be moving upwards, potentially engulfing the viewer with darkness.

In 1938, the authority of the “new” wireless medium of radio made the broadcast of the “War of the Worlds” seem so real that it created a social hysteria causing many of the listeners to panic when they believed that the world was being invaded by aliens from outer space. The power of the human imagination and the power of belief cannot be underestimated. In Plato’s story, individuals are chained in a cave unable to move or turn their heads; they can only see the mysterious shapes cast upon the wall in front of them of people going about their daily business outside in the sunlight. The details and meaning of these shadows are obscured and blurred creating great imaginary monsters and demons that are only in the minds of the bound viewers.

Reacting to the unknown with fear often results in tragic outcomes such as war, poverty and opportunistic greed. Listening has failed to take place.
- Stephen Bradley

*image (left)
installation view
© Hu Renyi
courtesy of V Art Center