One-sided conversation

Merika Gopaul stood in front of a wide-screen television and became enthralled in a one-way dialogue. On the screen before the Costa Mesa resident, a woman with no name or identification other than her physical appearance and surroundings, spoke for nearly an hour while a donkey nibbled on her clothing.

Surrounding 64-year-old Gopaul, 23 identical TV sets rested in a bull-eye target pattern occupying one room of the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach.

Each TV featured an interview of some Southern California resident or residents, ranging in age, gender and walk of life from “Paradise,” a video display by artist Kutlug Ataman that premiered in March at the museum.

“It’s kind of like sitting in on a conversation,” Gopaul said. “It’s interesting to see which ones you are drawn to.”

Gopaul, who has worked at the Irvine Museum for a number of years, felt that although the exhibit might not have given a complete depiction of the county’s population, it did offer an interesting perspective of man’s contemporary relationships with technology and with their fellow man.

“I find more and more in our world, rather than deal with people face to face, you deal with them through technology,” Gopaul said.

The whole piece reminded her of a sit-down YouTube experience.

“If you get bored, you can just walk on to the next one,” she said.

Earphones sitting on square white plastic stools accompanied all but one of the TVs. Occupying the center spot, Chef James Boyce spoke on cooking. Other interviews included Crystal Cathedral founder Robert H. Schuller, members of the Laguna Beach laughter yoga club and critical theorist Mike Davis.

The work allows the viewer to witness how a person narrates his or her life while it is still in motion.

“You’re going to change what you are going to say because you are in front of a camera,” said Steve Schmidt, a member of museum security.

Schmidt said he felt that aspect of the show left something lacking in the presentation, but he could not argue that it draws a crowd.

“People spend all day in there,” he said.

Each interview lasts between 30 minutes to one hour.

What each subject spoke on seemed to matter less than their on-screen presence or the California personality each one exuded, Gopaul said.

“You get this feeling of them just because they are there, [like being] in a crowd but not interacting,” she said.

Ataman’s exhibit will be in Newport Beach through June 3. For more information, visit the museum’s Web site at www.ocma.net.