In the age of Xbox and Wii, pinball machines are history. And history is the theme of sorts to James Pridgeon’s Technology Leads the People, a 1992 work on display with 20 others in the city’s “Evocative: Artworks That Invite Conversation” selection from its portable works program. Pridgeon has removed the glass top from an old Bally table and created a little diorama where the silver ball once caroomed. Little plastic figures and classical columns are lined up as if for a political ceremony. As if on a podium, at the head of the table, is an even older typewriter, its arms raised up in glorious though non-operative display. Its a tribute to obsolescence, a frozen march forward, an altar of dead technology. Also of note: Gail Simpson’s aluminum vertebrae, with discs of coal, eggs, and walnuts; and Charlotte Meyer’s brass clothes hangers, causing some confusion while bolted to the wall next to a restroom. BRIAN MILLER

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