Art Daybook: 'Sidewalk Cinema'

The piece: "The Scales of Justice"

The artist: Kawita Vatanajyankur

Where: 1111 Main,  in "Color Play," the first show of the new Sidewalk Cinema program organized by Aurora Picture Show for the Downtown District's Art Blocks at Main Street Square, through mid-July

Why: Video art can be a tough sell on a downtown street corner during the daytime. The corner of Main and McKinney isn't the busiest, but one recent lunch hour, people were still rushing to wherever they were rushing to — a quick lunch, a meeting, a bus, the Metro station.

"Color Play" contains 40 minutes of video with six vertical-format works by four artists. Curator Mary Magsamen doesn't expect most people to stand there that long, so she chose videos that can be glimpsed for 30 seconds or 30 minutes.

A trio of cleanly composed, three-minute pieces by the Thai-Australian artist Kawita Vatanajyankur kept my attention the longest, maybe because they have a human element. Each features a woman in some uncomfortable position, trying to hold her balance against the odds. In "The Scales of Justice," with her hips balanced on a gymnast's parallel bar, the woman holds her body straight while someone off camera throws vegetables into the baskets that hang from her wrists and ankles, tipping her rigid body one way or the other. Minus the gymastics, I know the feeling.

No one else stopped during the 10 minutes I watched recently. A construction worker standing right next to the corner windows of the old Sakowitz building seemed to be trying to pretend he didn't see the display.

New Hampshire artist Jodie Mack's "Blanket Statement" flickered on and off a few feet from him. The flickering made me wonder if the monitor was malfunctioning. No, that's intentional. The extreme close-ups of knitted blankets in colorful lined patterns offer the kind of view you might get of a yarn coverlet if you've been in bed two days with a fever, and you're bored silly. It almost makes your eyes hurt. Still, this seemed like a good solution for capturing the attention of busy passersby — just hit them with graphics.

Around the corner, on the McKinney side, liquids bubbled and dripped and little plastic fish bobbled around inside canisters, lit colorfully, during Houston artist Emily Peacock's "You Take Your Time."

Ohio artist Kasumi's video collage "The Nostalgia Factory" contains gliding images that evoke mid-20th-century mass media. This piece comes closest to what one might expect in a space that could just as easily hold commercial signage, the surprise being that there's no text trying to sell something. It's upbeat and fun.

As far as I can tell, there's no sound on any of the pieces; it would be drowned out by the ambient street noise, anyway. Bright daylight can make the videos hard to see, so if you're making a special trip, go in the evening.

Other Art Blocks projects have been extended through December: Patrick Renner's "Trumpet Flower" and the Main Street Marquee are just up the sidewalk, along with Floyd Newsum's permanent sculpture, "Planter and Stems."

Bookmark Gray Matters. It could just as easily hold commercial signage.