About the Project

Belief Objects is a video interview project investigating how individuals define their belief systems. The project is a collaboration between artists Blithe Riley and Devlin Shea who came together out of their mutual interest in the art of interviewing for research and for archive, a process they both work with professionally. The project began during an artist residency in the financial district in New York City, and has moved to the Brooklyn College Art Lab (BCAL), an afterschool resource for highschool youth in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn. Using BCAL as the project hub, the project continues with interviews with pariticipating teens, members of the campus community and surrounding neighboorhods.

About the Interviews

During the interview process participants are asked to reflect upon the experiences that have shaped their belief systems, as well as define common themes often assigned to belief by popular media outlets. These definitions include concepts such as hope, truth, faith, and evil. As part of the interview process, each interviewee brings an image or object that represents their belief system in some fashion.

About the Video Blog

The video blog is the main outlet for broadcasting all our collected interviews. Visitors will be able to view video clips and give their feedback by posting comments. To ensure a respectful environment the blog will be moderated. We will use this format to map information, common threads, and distinctions across all content gathered.

About the Artists

Blithe Riley is an artist working with video, performance, and installation. At its root, her work stems from an interest in discovering and inventing systems for information flow. Her current projects deal with the intersection between live and recorded media, and are often inspired by the mediation of politics as shown through popular culture outles. Select works have been screened both nationally and internationally at venues such as Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center in Buffalo, NY, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, and at The European Media Arts Festival in Osnabrueck, Germany. Riley received a BFA from Alfred School of Art and Design in 1999 and an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University in 2005. Since 2002 she has worked at the editor and (more recently) Project Coordinator for the Video Data Bank On Art and Artists collection, a series of historical video interviews with artists many of which were produced by Kate Horsfield and Lyn Blumenthal in the 1970's and '80's. She has curated/organized video programs for various venues & festivals since 1999 including Feedback: The Video Data Bank, Video Art, and Artist Interviews at the MOMA in New York City, with Sally Berger. She currently lives in Queens, NY.

Devlin Shea is a visual artist working in drawing, painting and video. Her work has been shown at venues such as Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Carnegie Art Center, and Squeeky Wheel in Buffalo New York, Green Street Gallery in Boston and has traveled internationally in group shows with the Evolutionary Girls Club in Germany, Finland, and the Ukraine. Her drawings have been published in 3rdfloor arts journal. Devlin has worked doing visual based interviews for a market research company since 2000. She is currently collaborating with fellow artist Blithe Riley on Belief Objects, a video interview project investigating how individuals define their belief systems. The project participated in the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's swing space artist residency in the summer/fall of 2006. In January 2007 it moves to Brooklyn College where it will be in residence at the Brooklyn College Art Lab.s