By Laura Neilson

At first glance, the nondescript, gray container stationed outside of a CVS Pharmacy on Eighth Avenue in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood looked like an ordinary dumpster… until someone emerged from inside, followed by a couple a few moments later. Passersby took notice and stopped to investigate. Despite first impressions, this wasn’t some dumpster-diving event, but actually an art installation for metropolitans in the know.

This particular box was one of a dozen or so dispersed throughout Chelsea’s art gallery district for this year’s Digital and Video Art Fair (DiVA). The six-day event (March 25-30th), promoted by the non-profit organization Frère Independent, consisted of the “boxed-in” video exhibitions, as well as lectures and screenings at the nearby White Box Gallery. DiVA, a relatively young event, debuted in New York in 2003 and boasts itself as the first art fair devoted wholly to digital and video art. Since then, DiVA has found multiple cities to host its annual event–in the US and abroad–including Cologne, Brussels, Paris, Miami Beach and Taipei.

This year’s theme, “The Streets,” was both a statement on the fair’s purpose, as well as its form. It was as much an effort to present this art medium in an unassuming and unpretentious way–hence the scattered, street-level boxes that anyone could enter, while the boxes provided a conducive, darkened environment for showing the video works. Jani Ruscica’s “Batbox/Beatbox,” a double short film that consisted of a nocturnal basketball game, illuminated only by spotlight, certainly thrived from the enclosed, dark space in which it was viewed (in fact, it would be difficult to imagine it being shown and having the same effect in a fully-lit, open gallery space). Other presentations included screens of varying sizes, shapes and orientations–Hung Keung’s simple yet penetrating exhibition involved frames of human faces puckering their lips in anticipation of a kiss, each displayed on a separate portable Sony Playstation that dangled from the ceiling. Another artist featured multiple mini-screens which flashed religious iconography while forming the shape of a cross. The subject matter varied considerably, which was not unexpected, considering the possibilities of this shared art form, and certainly an aspect DiVA strived to promote. A happy medium indeed.