By Bill Van Siclen “Nostalgia Machines” is an alternately entertaining and thought-provoking exhibit currently on display at Brown University’s David Winton Bell Gallery. Guest curator Maya Allison has assembled an international group of artists who use an array of technological flotsam and jetsam — cheap off-the-shelf electronics, cast-off computer parts, battered stereo components — to explore themes of loss, memory and identity. Rather than seeing technology as something apart from everyday life, these artists view it as something deeply and expressively human. “Nostalgia Machines” runs through Feb. 19 at the gallery in the List Art Center, 64 College St., Providence. Hours: Monday-Friday 11-4 and Saturday-Sunday 1-4. Contact: (401) 863-2932.
