New Mural Showcases Wonderful Woes of Technology in Grove Street Parking Garage

Passersby can now fall down the rabbit hole into a technological wonderland in the Grove Street parking garage, with the help of a new mural.

Completed in early June by Michigan State University Associate Professor of Studio Art Benjamin Duke, the mural titled “Vicarious Causation,” is a reflection on the “fickle Gods” of technology.

“I try to reveal something about myself. I try to engage in things that interest me,” Duke said of his murals. “So this one is kind of my engagement with technology. There’s, I think, a real upside, but also a real downside to technology. So, while I want the image to have a kind of a blunt positivity about it, I also want to include things that allow for a deeper question, or a subtle kind of warning.”

Framed by orange curves resembling the edges of goggles, the mural is otherwise surrounded by space. On the far right, a girl looks up to the bright blue sky above her, but while wearing a virtual reality mask, as the clouds and trees glitch between realities. 

“I think VR is a really interesting thing, but it’s kind of a stand in for technology in a larger sense,” Duke said. “I think with VR, there’s a kind of literal sense where virtual reality becomes like an entirely new ground.”

Duke said he used this framing “To then do anything that I want within the mural, as crazy as possible.” 

Continuing left, a girl falls from the sky into a rabbit hole of strange creatures and oversized fauna, as the background clips in and out of existence and realities collide. Houses, symbolizing familiarity, contrast with their increasingly chaotic surroundings.

“I think of them as technology.” Duke said, referring to the creatures. “It’s also monstrous, but it’s a kind of a fickle monster or a fickle God. So, it’s inviting you in, but it’s also dangerous.”

Duke has helped paint several other murals in the Lansing area, including “A Colorful Melange: We All Belong Here,” in the Grove Street Alley, “Emergence,” on MSU’s Kresge Art Center and “Life is a Groovy Opportunity,” on the Division Street Garage, with one of his classes, Public Art: Understanding and Practice. He also painted a mural titled “Looking Forward,” under the Shiawassee Street Bridge in downtown Lansing.

“All the murals that I make and all the art that I make, what I’m going for is a way to keep engaging,” Duke said. “So you might see something and think something at one time and then see another relationship at another time and make a different kind of connection. I’m really trying to make artwork that can sustain multiple viewings, multiple interactions.”

Duke also said he was encouraged by the overall positive reaction to his art.

“I hope that it represents functioning roads and the grid is good, to get up to now we’re going to beautify our city. I hope that reveals a city that has a really good community.” Duke said.

“I would love to be a part of that, in a way that I can be, because I can’t fix the road.”