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Resonator by Christy Georg
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Because works of art are most often presented in their finished form, as completed, perfected versions of the artist’s vision, audience members are left out of the creative evolution, removed from the artist and unaware of the processes by which he/she arrived at the final product.
On March 1 through 5 at Smith College, appreciators of art will be invited to witness—and in some cases participate in--the creation of art in the making as four artists will produce works out in the open where all can see. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
“Project AIR,” an interactive, five-day exhibition, will host four regional artists, all of whom work in different media, to create their respective works of art for several hours a day in different areas of the college’s Campus Center. The artists will work from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day in rooms 103 and 104 of the Campus Center. On Friday, March 5, they will present a closing event in those rooms from 7 to 9 p.m.
The exhibition is a collaboration between the Arts Resource Committee, a student organization, and the Berwick Research Institute’s Artist in Research (AIR) Program, which emphasizes the importance of process over completed product. The program asks artists to pursue an idea, technique or interest and to involve the public in its investigation.
Participating artists in “Project AIR” are John Osorio-Buck, Christy Georg, Jessica Ryan and Meg Rotzel, who is also the exhibition curator. The works in the live exhibition will be informed by ideas of consumption and production in contemporary society.
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"Cigarette Art" by John Osorio-Buck
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Buck, a Boston artist, will construct temporary shelters using various discarded products, such as cardboard, synthetic materials and recyclables of all sorts. His shelters could become available for homeless people, or could be used as children’s playhouses, for example. Buck was initially inspired toward this project when he witnessed the death of a homeless man in Boston.
Georg, who is known for her kinetic sound sculpture and her performance-based works, will create a sculpture of sound installation using tone duration and wave distance to explore perception. Her project is inspired by Thomas Edison, who was deaf when he invented the phonograph, but produced sound internally by biting on the vibrating metal. Georg’s project will create models of a new phonograph that mimics Edison’s invention.
Ryan is an instrument builder and performer also based in Boston. Her musical instruments are built with obsolete and antique materials and the resultant sounds are often unique and abstract. Her project at Smith will create the groundwork for a new sound installation at the Campus Center, which will focus on the relationship between public and private spaces.
Rotzel’s work takes the form of gifts, handouts and public performances, often inspiring conversations between her and her audience. At Smith, Rotzel will sew three household objects, each relating to topics of labor, consumption and the environment. Each item can be ordered by audience members to be either sewn on the spot (free of charge) or picked up later (for a price). She will also have sewing machines available for others to create their own objects.
The Berwick Research Institute, located in Roxbury, Massachusetts, was founded in 2000 by eight artists who sought a space in which they could create and present experimental works of sound, film, robotics, conceptual art, dance, theater, music and other media, to test conventional boundaries.
Smith College is consistently ranked among the nation’s foremost liberal arts colleges. Enrolling 2,800 students from every state and 60 other countries, Smith is the largest undergraduate women’s college in the country.
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