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Works of Interactive Art to be Created
Live at Smith College Campus Cente
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- 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 the 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 Smith's art department 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.
Osorio-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, Mass., 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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Office of College
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Smith College
Garrison Hall
Northampton, Massachusetts 01063 |
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Marti
Hobbes
News Assistant
T (413) 585-2190
F (413) 585-2174
mhobbes@email.smith.edu
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