San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles warms up for ZeroOne with two intriguing exhibits about paranoia and process

By Michael S. Gant

BY NOW, the ritual of security clearance at the airport has become second nature. The traveler passes through an electronic portal to the limbo of the departure lounge. In an edgy installation called Insecurity at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, Julie John Upshaw ups the anxiety level of that common experience.

Visitors enter the museum's central gallery through one of those ubiquitous metal-detectors, setting off overhead lights. But it is quickly apparent that no one is minding the machine. Metal conduit extends in long tracery patterns from a power outlet on the gate. The pipes snake across the floor and up the walls like jungle vines seeking sunlight. But ultimately, they trail off into nothingness; they don't lead to any central databanks where every visitor is profiled...