What’s a contemporary artist to do, faced with the slick world of consumer gadgetry, which seems to slurp up so very much of the public’s attention? Alex Dodge’s show at Williamsburg’s Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery offers a novel answer: He turns the gallery into a space to show off his own conceptual gizmo prototypes, realized with the help of his very own, very real, tech start-up, Generative, Inc.
 
Thus, you get Powerstep, a pair of white shoes, the heels of which house something called an “Achilles Cell.” A wall text explains that the Powerstep shoes would generate energy from your footsteps through “an encapsulated piezoelectric ceramic,” storing it in the detachable power-cell that can be used to charge your mobile devices. Well, why not? As an idea, it sure beats those sneakers that tone your butt! Read More