Art Projects – 2014
Bioluminescent Bay
carrie goodson
medium: marbles, LED, etc.
This project idea has been inspired by the few bioluminescent bays that exist in the world. Some of them have “gone dark” recently and researchers are actively trying to learn why. My vision of it is to use a festival-type tent as support beams without the canvas top and string as many dangling strings as is possible to make it dense to walk through. At the end of each string will likely be a glass marble with an LED light in it. I would love to have them activated by touch, but it may need to be activated by sound. The glass marbles hitting each other as they are disturbed could also possibly be the activation. (NOTE: WE HAVE SINCE BEEN NOTIFIED THAT THIS PROJECT WILL BE UNABLE TO COMPLETE BY GATEWAY)
Burner Scouts
tank girl, cycle boy
medium: community members, their children
Burner Scouts was created in the spirit of bringing the next generation of Burners forward. We host activities throughout the year – but especially at Gateway – based on the 10 Principles of Burning Man. We welcome Burner parents and their children as well as people new to the burn culture. We feel the 10 principles are some pretty good guidelines to go through life, and want to help educate any who will participate via hands-on activities.
Crystal Palace
stacey lindgren, zay thompson, kate erlinger, bryan hall, matthew cook
medium: inflatable structure
The Crystal Palace provides a space to allow senses to roam and interact. The changing lights and the odd ways sounds work inside the structure, combined with ambient, ever-changing music, will help to alter perception. We seek to transport the visitor to a totally different space and time then the one in which the Palace exists. From the outside, the Palace exists as a scintillating vision, resembling the glowing home of a benevolent witch.
Masks
john schnellmann
medium: plastic, papier mache
Use your imagination to create a mask – maybe wear it in the parade. In the a.m., 3 people will use their imagination to create their own mask using a plastic template and papier mache. An hour later, then 3 more; another hour, then 3 more for a total of 9 masks. They will dry over lunch and makers will return to paint them with acrylics in the afternoon. I will spray with lacquer to make waterproof (picture masks from Venice). This activity is for adults or young adults.
Plato’s Puppet
audrey simes
medium: pvc, fabric, lights, humans
The inspiration for this project comes from the desire to create a sculpture that is transformed by human intervention. We want to explore the idea that the human form is a sculpture in and of itself. This project will explore how the human body can both activate an inanimate object while becoming an abstract sculpture. This project gives viewers and participants the opportunity to experience the human form skewed by geometry and light/shadow play. The intimacy experienced within the sculpture is contrasted by the outsider’s experience as “witness.”
Pretty, Pretty Portapotty Project
plantdrew
medium: lights, artwork
Visiting a portapotty is not usually considered an aesthetically pleasing experience. I aim to make the portapotties at Gateway more pleasant. Portapotties will be lit at night (which can reduce messes, and allow people to more readily avoid what messes exist). Poems, short stories or illustrations will be posted and rotated daily to give potty users something more interesting to look at than a plastic wall. Hand sanitizer and air freshener will be placed in each portapotty.
Synchronistic
duke
medium: paint, wood, yarn, fabric
This installation would add a complementary depth and illustration to an already synchronistic concept. Using archetypal imagery, surreal lines and visceral colors will serve to create a space where perception and perspective will perhaps veer away from the standard and conventional assumptions. The colors, icons, lights, textures and shapes would create an interesting juxtaposition and integration between nature and the thematic mindscape. Placing various “floating”, fluorescent intense alien heads, mystic eyeballs and vibrant chakra symbol icons (with battery powered pinpoint L.E.D. lighting for increased flexibility) surrounding a suitable archetypal tree, this project will add a dimension and depth of continuing and extending the theme & atmosphere to further dimensions within the campground. (Also, some of the yarn and fabric components will perhaps be “loose” and thus allow for tactile interaction, for the so-inclined.)
Transmyth 9
erin taylor
medium: wood, wax, light
Transmyth 9 takes a common piece of furniture and transforms it into an interactive mixed media sculptural installation. Transmyth 9 contains objects suspended in wax. This wax melts over a period of several hours at night unveiling its contents. Participants are encouraged to play with the wax as it melts onto the ground. The contents will consist of items from each of the four prior installments of the project as well as some special MOOP for the Gateway Burn.
TransPlant
leland drexler-russell
medium: metal, fabric, light, humans
Combining metalwork, electronics, and sculpture, the project TransPlant will create an interactive experience through otherworldly, pod-like structures that react to each passerby. These pods will be put in a series to create a trail that will light up and glow as you follow it. The interaction is designed to catch the eye of bystanders and encourage exploration.The main goal of this project is to create a luring sense of enchantment that enhances the everyday. These objects are designed to stay dormant until someone activates them, which in turn catches the eye of passersby, enticing them to change their path and explore this new element.
Water War Part II
patrick o’brien
materials: water, humans
The Water War’s purpose is to provide fun for up to 40 people. Each person wears a necklace of Alka-Seltzer tablets, sports a water gun and carries a bucket with water grenades. You are out if someone shoots your tablets and dissolves them. The person who shoots you successfully gets your bucket and any remaining grenades. The Water War wages on throughout the hottest part of the day. The winner? To be determined…
| Gateway Art Support 2014 Effigy Grant Awards |
Everything All at Once: A Playground of the Senses
geoff mitchell, alan cina, justin cleveland, melonie bariola
materials: wood, metal sheeting, textural components
This project seeks to portray the conjoining of the senses through a conjoining of the sense organs. Sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing come together as one amalgamation of sensory experience. The structure will be a 20 foot tall, 12 foot wide surrealistic combination of a nose, eye, ear, hand, and tongue, representing the five senses. As a participant, you will crawl up into a nostril of the nose, through one of two separate chambers, each with a unique sensory experience. Arriving at the mid-level of the structure, you will find two alcoves, one in the eye, and the other in the ear, where you will find a small bench and a portal to the outside. Perhaps, you will sample the eye candy, and take in the aromas of the ear, before proceeding up the central ladder to the palm of the hand. Take in the sights from this perch, before sliding down the tongue, back to the ground.Faux fur and other textural elements may be used in the nostrils and elsewhere to complete the sensory experience.
Symphony of Motion
geoff mitchell, mac murphy
materials:
This project is intended to be deployed in conjunction with the Everything All At Once effigy project, though it could potentially work independently.The aim of this project is to translate the motion and activity of participants into music, essentially making the effigy itself a giant musical instrument. The goal of this piece is to create an interactive auditory experience, wherein the participants, purposefully or incidentally, create the soundtrack of their own adventures. A number of motion sensors will be deployed in different areas of the effigy (or potentially any other space with sufficiently isolated areas). These sensors will be connected, via an interface board, to a MIDI device to produce sounds. The activation of each sensor will play a different note or sample. Speakers will be placed throughout the interior of the effigy and also outside, so that both those producing the sounds and nearby spectators will be able to hear the results.