Groundbreaking Artwork On View from January 24 to February 14, 2025
The Hatton Gallery at Colorado State University’s Department of Art and Art History proudly presents The Hangman at Home, a groundbreaking virtual reality art exhibition, on view from January 24 to February 14, 2025.
Since its debut in 2020, the piece has garnered prestigious accolades, including the Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Immersive Work at the 77th Venice Film Festival (2020) and Best VR Interactive Experience at the Cannes XR Award (2021).
The exhibition is organized by Xinran Yuan, the newly appointed Director of Exhibitions and Community Engagement, who brings over a decade of international art world experience to CSU. It marks the first large-scale virtual reality art exhibition at CSU and in Fort Collins, highlighting the Hatton Gallery’s commitment to experimental and critical art practices across genres.
Created by artists Michelle and Uri Kranot and inspired by Carl Sandburg’s haunting 1922 poem, The Hangman at Home immerses viewers in a series of quietly charged domestic moments where the roles of witness and participant intersect. The artwork blends emerging interactive technologies with the intimacy of handcrafted imagery, resulting in a strikingly minimalist yet profoundly impactful storytelling experience. Drawing from diverse disciplines including painting, installation, poetry, music, film, and theater, it exemplifies the transformative power of interdisciplinary art to engage and challenge audiences.
This special exhibition features a stunning physical installation in deep dialogue with the virtual artwork, designed by artist Kim Ferrer and Broadway prop artisan Nathan Cory Seymour—both esteemed members of CSU’s Art and Art History Department—along with a team of art instructors and students. Through rich textures, subtle lighting, and dynamic framings of space and movement, the installation amplifies the tension between the virtual and the real, the watcher and the watched, and transforms the Hatton Gallery into an immersive environment of communal exchange.
“The poem The Hangman at Home was written in 1922. Over a century later, as digital technologies and personal devices increasingly shape how we relate to the world and one another, this exhibition reimagines the gallery as a space for connection, presence, and collective exploration, while critically engaging with the opportunities and implications of these technologies,” says Xinran Yuan. “This exhibition embodies the Hatton Gallery’s vision of responsible artistic innovation as a catalyst for meaningful dialogue and engagement.”
A virtual artist talk with Michelle and Uri Kranot will be announced in the week of January 20. Admissions are free; advanced booking is required for this interactive exhibition, with each 45-minute session accommodating up to four visitors. Please note, this exhibition is intended for audiences aged 18 and older.
For more information and to book your visit, please visit this website.
PRESS CONTACT:
Xinran Yuan, Director of Exhibitions and Community Engagement
312-560-7419
Press previews are available by appointment from January 20–24
About the Hatton Gallery
Situated within Colorado State University’s Department of Art and Art History, the Hatton Gallery opened in 1974 and was dedicated to Clara Hatton, artist and educator, to honor her extraordinary vision and leadership in founding the land-grant university’s art department. Today, it is a vibrant space for innovative exhibitions and public programs that foster vital artistic expression, bold interdisciplinary collaborations, and thoughtful community engagement around pressing issues of our time. A key connector between Fort Collins and global artistic voices, the gallery embraces an experimental approach to its role as a curatorial and pedagogical platform. Through strategic partnerships across CSU and beyond, the Hatton Gallery invites artists, students, and audiences into spaces of inquiry, risk-taking, and artistic growth.
About the Department of Art and Art History
The Department of Art and Art History at Colorado State University is a dynamic community dedicated to the principle that visual arts are fundamental to intellectual life and social well-being. Offering comprehensive programs in studio art, art history, and art education, we encourage the creative and intellectual development of our students with hands-on research in the studio, the classroom, and beyond. Our faculty are accomplished artists, designers, and scholars who are committed to mentoring students as well as meaningful engagement in their fields of expertise.