Jim Kalambokis — The Loop
Reviewed by Leah Davis

Have you ever seen a mirror that only shows the faces of people who look away? It sounds like something out of a fairytale, so imagine this: you’re walking in the woods. It’s dusk and you’ve come upon a clearing. You live nearby and you know this route, but something feels off. Six stone pillars stand in a circle and they definitely weren’t here two hours ago. People mill about like normal, relaxing after a long day. They chat, ignoring the strange henge. But you notice eyes flicking toward the stones. Every few minutes, somebody breaks away from the routine and walks to the center of the circle. You watch what becomes a familiar dance: their eyes light up. They quickly look over one shoulder. They wave at a pillar and turn in a circle, chin leading their slow rotation. Sometimes they call over a friend and the two of them move in unison. Then they walk away. Their evening carries on. Honestly, I feel a little silly describing modern installation art this way, but Jim Kalambokis’ The Loop has all the magic of a modern henge. Replace “clearing” with the Red Wing at the Boston Museum of Science and “stone pillars” with eight-foot-tall video screens, and you’ve got the idea. The transformation Kalambokis creates with his circle of camera-equipped inward-facing LED screens “invites participants to step into a closed but endless space and experience all-surrounding, perspective-shifting live feeds of themselves and others.” Which is to say, everyone who walks into The Loop goes somewhere else for a little while. And when they return, they bring back a shifted perspective.