Lectures and Events
Act/React is in full swing and a huge success! We’ve had some really great programs to accompany the exhibit, including two lectures by some highly regarded citizens of the art community.
Our first lecture on Oct. 16 was The Reactive City by Steve Dietz, the artistic director of the Biennial 01SJ Global Festival of Art on the Edge. It was very exciting to have Steve here to share some projects commissioned by his organization ZERO1. He gave a great presentation of public interactive artworks and how they activate citizens of a city. He kept us on the edge of our seats by showing so many different examples of this work, including Body Movies by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Here is a link to the video: http://www.bitforms.com/rafael-lozano-hemmer.html#id=27&num=17
Note: Lozano-Hemmer also completed a project entitled, Pulse Park, Oct 24 - Nov 17, 2008, which was on display in Madison Square Park in New York City. Here is a link: http://www.bitforms.com/rafael-lozano-hemmer.html#id=27&num=1
Steve’s lecture got me interested in the topic. So, after doing some digging, I found The Emergent City, a website run by the artist Stanza that gives examples of surveillance works, sound walks and other city-based artworks: http://www.stanza.co.uk/emergentcity/
If you click “About The Emergent City”, he gives many examples of his work.
We also had a program with Amy Granat on November 13. After an impromptu guitar intro, she and I had a conversation on stage about New Media works. She then showed one of her scratch films on a 16mm projector – quite a technological change from the works in Act/React! Everyone should come see her new installation, entitled Gugenschein (for the Milwaukee Art Museum), in Sensory Overload. She has done an amazing job transforming the black box space with photo and film-based materials.
Thanks again for everyone that came out to hear these two fantastic lectures, and for all the support that Act/React has received so far.
John
Other press
While I do not have an answer to Scott Snibbe’s post, I would also like to point out an article written by Carrie Antlfinger that is being circulated by the Associated Press:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27179037/
This article has circulated nationally and I have heard from many people because of it. But, reading about the show does not give you the full appreciation of the works. Come experience it yourself if you haven’t already!
John
Writing on Interactive Art
On the occasion of Nathaniel Stern’s recent thoughtful review of Act/React for Rhizome, I’d like to open the discussion of how - and sometimes if - our medium gets reviewed. Nathaniel’s review is an exception to most journalism I’ve seen on the medium of interactive art, and, more specifically, physically interactive art. A majority of reviews simply describe the work without criticality or insight; or focus on the novelty and technical aspects of the work. Sometimes the reviews are delegated to technology writers, rather than arts or culture writers (of course some writers gracefully cross these boundaries, such as Matthew Mirapaul, formerly of the New York Times Arts@Large column).
I’m explicitly excluding the writing of great curators of new media art here, such as Christiane Paul, to focus on professional writers and journalists. To point out another notable exception that many in the U.S. may not be aware of, I’d like to note Lucy Bullivant, author of 4DSocial and Responsive Environments. Do any of our readers here have comments on writing about digital art and physically interactive art?
Do you have any pointers to other good writers working today? And for art writers out there reading this, good sources for them to be able to write more critically informed commentary? Or please prove me wrong with links to other great writing and writers.
Scott Snibbe
Act React Video #2
Act React opening
The opening of Act/React was a great success. I’d like to thank all who participated; it is, after all, the participatory efforts of visitors which shape and mold these motion-driven installations.
This trend towards interactivity has steadily grown given artists increased access to new technology, and is the driving force behind Act/React. Interactive art encourages a dialogue between the art work and the participant. Visitors have the ability to act upon the work and are invited to elicit a unique response within the context of the piece, becoming more than just a passive viewer. It was exhilarating to watch people experiencing the work themselves.
Friday’s panel discussion allowed the artists to further explain their role, fielding questions about the installations from our members. It was great to have everyone in Milwaukee. I would like to thank all of the artists and artist assistants for their time and energy on the exhibition. The lectures and presentations by guest curator, George Fifield, were truly inspiring.
It is exciting to be a part of this revolutionary exhibition here at the Milwaukee Art Museum. I hope for its continued success, and invite you to come activate the art!
-John McKinnon, Coordinating Curator
Act/React installation video
Installation
The art works for Act React are all installed and working! This week we are finishing the gallery space, dealing with the signage and lighting and then starting Wednesday there are three days of openings and a final panel discussion with the artists on Friday. Much credit is due to the incredible staff here at the Museum. They are focused, professional, fun to work with and real problem solvers. Here are a few pictures from the install.
Artists at work
Here is Brian Knep working on the his projectors.
Brian’s Healing Pool is a world premiere. It’s the size of a swimming pool and is in the middle of the exhibit. Below is Brian checking the projection out before the vinyl floor has been laid down and before Brian has tweeked it to his satisfaction.
Camille Utterback is showing three works, External Measures 2003, Untitled 5 and Untitled 6. This is the first time all three works in this series have been shown together. They’re very impressive. Both Camille and her assistant, Genevieve Hoffman loved the Lift Truck. I think they both want to get one for themselves when they get back to San Francisco. Here they are talking to John McKinnon, the Assistant Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, and the Museum point person for the show. It’s been great working with John.
And here’s John again talking with Robyn Moody, Janet Cardiff’s installer for her interactive table, To Touch.
Robyn is a genial artist himself from Calgary and we enjoyed looking for Milwaukee restaurants with him a great deal. Here’s Robyn installing the work. And that isn’t just some old work table he’s laying stuff out on, that’s the artwork itself.
That was the first week. Last week, Liz Phillips, Danny Rozin and Ian Budish, Scott Snibbe’s installer all came. Here’s a picture of Danny working in front of his magical Snow Mirror, that captures your reflection in digital drifts of falling snow.
Finally here’s John Irion, Museum exhibition designer, who did such a great job organizing the space of Act React, putting the final touches on the front of the Baker/Rowland Gallery
George Fifield
Installation (Brian)
So it’s my second day installing here at the museum and I’m wishing I were a painter. I know painting is hard and time consuming and has its own particular problems and moments of craziness, but sitting here watching the crew wrestle my equipment (six projectors, three cameras, about a mile of cable) onto the ceiling while I calculate how to project a seamless image from this arched ceiling with its struts and beams, well, it makes me want to work in a medium where I can ship off my work and smoke a cigar while preparators bang in the nails.
The crew has been incredibly professional and forgiving. Installating is going well but slowly and I’m anxious to get everything up and running. This is the premier of my piece, Healing Pool, and I’ve never seen it nor is it finished. The elements are in place, but to complete it I need to see the work at its final scale and play, sensing what feels right and pushing it in those directions.
The rest of the space looks great and I’m excited to be in a show with the other artists. Scott Snibbe and I are good friends and have know each other since college, Camille Utterback and I have crossed paths a number of times in the art world and have become friends, and George Fifield is a fellow Bostonian, a wonderful force for new media, and also a friend. So once everything is up and running smoothly, this should be fun.
Brian
From the curator
I’m the curator of Act React and I thought you might like to know a bit about how the show came about and what it means to me. I am the director of Boston Cyberarts as well as an independent curator of new media. My interests in new media are varied. I have curated exhibitions on digital sculpture, biological art, issues of digital identity and the history of art and technology. Being director of the Boston Cyberarts Festival exposes me to other intersections between art and technology including electronic music, digital literature and dance and technology. But the growing use of interactivity in the arts has always been a main interest of mine. In fact, I am also adjunct faculty at Rhode Island School of Design’s graduate Digital + Media program and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design where I teach on the history of interactivity in the fine arts.
So I’m very excited about Act React for two main reasons. First, in many ways, this is my dream exhibition. I’ve followed the field of interactive installations for many years and have known and supported the work of most these artists before. Many of them are friends of mine. It was fascinating to watch the seismic shift that occurred when artists moved away from techie interfaces to allowing the audience to intuitively interact with the work with their own bodies. In fact, I well remember the SIGGRAPH Conference (a major annual conference on computer graphics) where, in 2000, I first saw works by both Camille Utterback and Daniel Rozin that accomplished this so brilliantly and first planted the seed in my head for this exhibition.
The second reason I’m excited is that I’m a Milwaukee native. I grew up on the North Shore and spent my childhood and teens here. Though after college I moved to Boston, where I reside now, I returned often to visit my parents who lived in the home I grew up in until they passed away a couple of years ago. I have many friends, both mine and my parents, still in Milwaukee. Returning regularly over the past thirty odd years allowed me to watched the city change and grow, including the creation of the Quadracci Pavilion extension to Milwaukee Art Museum, the museum I still think of as my first art museum. And it was on one of these trips back that I first proposed the idea for this exhibition to Joe Ketner, who was Chief Curator and is an old friend. It’s been a great pleasure to work with Joe and the entire staff of this wonderful institution.
So it is a special treat for me to present an idea I’ve been working on for years in the city where I grew up. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoy putting it together and bringing it to you. Please consider it my gift back to the city that has given me so much.
George Fifield
Act React Blog
Welcome to the Act React blog where you will find insider information about the exhibition directly from the artists and curator.
Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to interact directly with the artists. Return to the blog regularly throughout the run of the exhibition and contribute to the ongoing conversation.
