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‘AlieNation’ parallels
’50s with science fiction
By Diane Broderick
Senior editor
Atom bombs, soldiers marching,
atom bombs, soldiers marching, eyes
widened in horror, a ’50s couple
locked in a kiss.
The barrage of slide images is fast
and frantic, and it relays one man’s
passion.
The object of Christian Seichter's
obsession, “alieNation,” opens with a
free show tonight at 8 in Burnett Hall,
how to U.S. history and reflects fears
prevalent to the time.
“I see the science-fiction films of
the ’50s as a very important subtext to
understand what was going on (politi
cally) in the ’50s,” he said.
“I try to find a connection
between what is going on in science
fiction and what was going on in real
ity.”
For example, in most sci-fi
movies, a prophetic figure warns of
impending danger. Seichter’s histori
cal connection is anti-communist
Koom i i j . it
brings a year’s
worth of work to
fruition.
Seichter, a
UNL English
major and
exchange student
from GerrpShy, has
fashioned a lavish,
two-hour multime
dia event. \
It focuses on
the 1950s and par
allels the decade
with science-fic
tion movie still
frames and clips,
accompanied by a
backdrop of haunt
66
An audience
of Americans (in the
AOs) in a 3-D show all
wearing 3-D glasses
was one of the most
frightening pictures
I’ve ever seen.”
Christian Seichter
creator of‘alie Nation’
activist McCarthy.
Seichter said
tonight’s show will
end more than a
year of toil.
And 100 pairs
of 3-D glasses he
purchased will help
him carry out his
task.
Seichter will
distribute the glass
es to give audience
members the sensa
tion that they are in
the ’50s. The idea
comes from a photo
that appears in the
slide show.
“An audience of
ing music ana voice-overs.
The arrangement focuses on the
feelings of estrangement and tension
that gripped the United States in the
1950s. The alienation that swept the
nation, Seichter said, corresponds
directly with science fiction’s popu
larity.
People went to movies to watch
aliens on the screen, and in reality, the
isolation they felt daily made them
aliens to each other.
The communist witch hunt of for
mer Sen. Joseph McCarthy and racial
tension perpetuating a fear of any
thing foreign contributed to the feel
ings of detachment, he said.
Seichter said his goal was to com
municate these feelings using science
fiction and historical images from the
era.
He began work on the slide show
last year in Germany. It began as a 20
minute slide presentation for a class.
When he got to the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln in August, he knew
he could find a wealth of pictures and
film clips he didn’t have access to in
Germany, so he began to expand the
show’s size.
The show encompasses more than
500 slides and 60 movie clips, and it
features a homemade soundtrack. It
will utilize two large screens: one for
slides, one for film clips.
“I want to confront people with so
many different visual impacts that
they are kind of disturbed,” he said.
Slides and movie clips run simul
taneously at times during the presen
tation, and the science-fiction film
images work to parallel the historical
stills in style and content.
Seichter believes every science
fiction film in the ’50s relates some
Americans (in the 50s) in a 3-D show
all wearing 3-D glasses was one of the
most frightening pictures I’ve ever
seen,” he said.
It appears about 15 times in the
presentation and is startling, he said,
because the movie viewers appear sin
ister and alien, with the 3-D glasses
serving as strange masks.
Co-sponsoring the presentation is
the Lincoln Fantasy and Science
Fiction Club. Though Seichter is not a
member of the club, he said this pro
ject gave him and the club a chance to
help each other.
The president of the club, UNL
sophomore geology major Erik
Waiss, said he hopes the presentation
will help boost membership of the
organization.
Seichter said he is looking for
ward to his life returning to normal
after the onetime screening of
“alieNation”
Then, maybe he will bring some
furniture back into his residence hall
room, where electronic equipment
including a VCR and a slide projector
take up some of the space where a bed
used to be.
“My Cather room looks now like a
complete mess,” he said. “I rolled the
bed out of my room, and I have about
a hundred large books right now that
take space, too.
“It looks like a combination of a
science-fiction laboratory and a
library.”
But he has no plans to continue
with this passion in the spring, during
his final semester at UNL.
“I’m not going to make any more
slide shows, because that’s just crazy.
I want to have time to see more of
America.”
Designers
win kudos
in fashion
contest
By Liza Holtmeier
Staff writer
In the world of fashion, few
would see Nebraska as a vanguard
of modern-day style.
But in the land of Wranglerjeans
and Comhusker sports jackets, the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Department of Textiles, Clothing
and Design is creating academically
acclaimed haute couture.
In November, the department
had nine student and three faculty
works represented at the
International Design Competition,
hosted by the International Textile
and Apparel Association. Two of the
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honor given to pieces that exhibit the
most creative use of fabric and
design.
Melinda Barton, a UNL senior
textiles, clothing and design major,
won Best of Show in the Student
Division of the Wearable Art
Category. Vince Quevedo, a UNL
textiles, clothing and design lecturer,
won Best of Show in the Faculty
Division for a dress titled “Vex.”
In “Vex,” Quevedo used micro
scopic views of organic matter to
design a dress made of heavyweight
.fabric. ~ n- * * :v ££
Quevedo based his piece on a
study he did of “Body In Space,” a
work by professor Young Hee Cho
from Kent State University in Ohio.
Cho’s piece explored the galaxy as
an art form.
“I really liked her approach and
her philosophy in looking at other
objects for inspiration,” Quevedo
said. “She uses microscopic means
to find a different point of view.”
Quevedo said his piece was
more substantial in weight and
appearance than Cho’s, however.
Quevedo used New Age fabrics such
as vinyl and metallic netting, where
as Cho used all silk netting.
Quevedo said his design won
because of its daringness.
“I’m not afraid to push buttons
ana iu ue on me tuning cage, ne
said.
Barton’s piece, “Haiku
Kimono,” won her a Best of Show
award. Barton’s admiration of
Japanese culture and art inspired her
to create “Haiku Kimono,” a gray
silk kimono with flashes of pink in
the lining.
Barbara Trout, an associate pro
fessor of textiles, clothing and
design and one of Barton’s instruc
tors, said “Haiku Kimono” is unique
in its fabrication and the way it inte
grates embellishment into the
piece’s structure. When light hits the
piece, the fabric appears three,
dimensional.
Trout said Barton’s strengths lie
in her ability to put colors and fabri
cations together in new and interest
ing ways.
“Her concepts are so unique that
they alone make her work stand
out,” Trout said.
For instance, Barton once
designed a wedding dress styled
after the costume of a matador. The
silk dress consisted of five pieces: a
shirt, a vest, a cummerbund, pants
and a detachable train.
Like the matador-influenced
wedding gown, Barton’s work at
UNL has juxtaposed traditional cos
Please see FASHION on 10