Month: September 2017

DLECTRICITY is pleased to bring “FLORA” by Berlin-based artist Philipp Artus to Detroit Homecoming and Dlectricity 2017!

Artus is a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker who explores the manifestation of life through experimental animations, light installations and drawings. Much of Artus’ work is digitally generated, but remains based in the natural world.

“FLORA” is an interactive installation of animation generated by overlapping sine waves that travel through a string of lines. The viewer can control the animation with a touchpad, thus each viewer has a unique experience. Originally inspired by the motion of his cat’s tail, Artus’ simple system of lines can create an endless combination of abstract shapes. Check it out on his website here!

Artus’ piece will also be on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts in Kresge Court as part of Detroit Homecoming on September 14—a little preview of what is to come at Dlectricity! If you are coming to Homecoming but will not make it to Dlectricity, we are excited to give you a taste of the festival.

Thanks to the William Davidson Foundation and the Richard and Jane Manoogian Foundation for their support of this installation. Thanks to the Detroit Institute of Arts for hosting this project and to Detroit Homecoming for their partnership!

Artus won first prize at the Visual Music Awards in Frankfurt and his work has been shown at the SIGGRAPH Art Gallery in Los Angeles. Check out a review of FLORA here, get to know Philipp Artus here. 

Dlectricity showcases work in many media, sculpture included! Australian artist Amanda Parer is bringing her project “Intrude,” an installation comprised of five light-up, enormous nylon inflatable rabbits to be placed in the College for Creative Studies Josephine F. Ford Sculpture Garden.

The title of “Intrude” is a reference to Australia’s struggle with rabbits, introduced by white settlers in 1788 and overrunning many of the country’s native flora and fauna. “Intrude” plays on the collective memory of the furry, innocent white rabbit of fairy tales, while simultaneously scaling them up to enormous size to address “the elephant in the room” of their destructive environmental impact.

Last year, “Intrude” toured 5 cities in the US. Most recently, “Intrude” was shown in August at Singapore’s first ever civic district light festival. The rabbits were also exhibited at the Wave Festival in Breckenridge, CO earlier this month. If you happen to be down under, Parer’s “Fantastic Planet” will be presented at the Brisbane Festival in Australia, September 9-30.

Parer was the recipient of the Blake Art Prize in Sydney, the Tattersalls Art Prize in Brisbane, and the Glover Art Prize in Tasmania in 2014.

Parer’s bunnies have traveled to over 50 cities in 4 continents—we are so excited to add Detroit to that list.

Thank you so much to Zekelman Industries for their generous support of this project. Thank you so much to the College for Creative Studies for hosting this project!

Check out a video about the installation of “Intrude” here!

Karla Kracht is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Barcelona. She creates theatrical performance and installation pieces through her comic-like drawings, animations, miniature hand-made objects and collaborations with theater and dance companies.

“:roundabout” is an animated theatrical mini-object and media art installation about the non-quantifiable. The installation uses rotating platforms and Kracht’s miniature hand-made objects and characters to take the viewer through a series of nightmarish sequences. In Kracht’s created world, nothing seems possible, and viewers’ shadows melt with everything around them in a chaos of interwoven, apparently unrelated situations.

Kracht explores the mysterious nature of the universe through her work, often using humor to address paradoxes in contemporary society. She is the co-director of a live theater animation performance piece that addresses the distribution of power in the 21^st century. Last year, she had a residency at Pier-2 Art Center in Taiwan, where she developed “:roundabout.”

Check out a preview clip of “:roundabout” from her blog about her Pier-2 work here!

The Dlectricity Light Bike Parade returns to Midtown on Saturday September 23^rd and is the official “Rolling Art Display” of the weekend event!  It’s time to plan your bicycle light decorations and register to ride.  There will be prizes for best decoration in the following categories:

• Most Creative Adult Bike Light Display
• Most Artistic Bike Light Display
• Most Creative Youth Bike Display (under 12)
• Most Unique Bicycle Helmet Decoration
• Best Team Themed Bike Light Exhibit (between 4-6 bikes)
• Most Original Family Bike Light Exhibit (Adult/Kids)

The best part about participating in the Light Bike Parade is decorating you, your bike and helmet. It is great for the Parade but also helps those evening rides since it makes it easier to be seen by distracted drivers!

A quick way to learn about light bike decorations is to search the web on bike decorations.  Just type “How do I decorate my bike with lights” into your search engine and you will have access to thousands of ideas, videos and links to help you create the winning Dlectricity Light Bike Parade Light Display!

We will also have a limited number of light decorations onsite the night of the parade to help enhance your bike!

Have fun decorating your bike and see you on September 23^rd!

Click here to REGISTER for the Light Bike Parade.

If you have other questions or would like to volunteer, please reach out to Al Fields, the Dlectricity Light Bike Parade Coordinator at: [email protected]

Jennifer Steinkamp is a critically acclaimed pioneer of incorporating computer technology into fine art. Although her works are digitally rendered, they remain lifelike and breathtaking, often playing with elements of time to represent cyclical occurrences in the world.

Steinkamp will bring a piece from her “Orbit” series to Dlectricity 2017, which she describes as “the depiction of the celestial mechanics of a planet spinning through its year.” In the digitally generated animation, trees and leaves are rustled and changes occur as all four seasons cycle during the course of the video.

Steinkamp’s works are site-specific projected installations that pull the architectural space into focus while blurring the line between real and illusionistic. Her installations have travelled all over the country, recently to the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio in 2016, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston in 2014 and 2012, and the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis in 2013.

At the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, “Jennifer Steinkamp: Madame Curie” just recently closed on August 27. The installation pays homage to Marie Curie’s passion for flowers.

She currently has a piece at the Portland Art Museum as part of the “Converge 45” contemporary art programming in Portland, on view now through September 17.

Steinkamp’s piece will be projected on the John R façade of the Michigan Science Center — thanks to them for hosting this beautiful installation. And thanks to Jennifer and Brian Hermelin for sponsoring “Orbit”–we could not produce this project without their support!

For a list of her on-going installations, see her website here.

It’s not too late to audition for Rashaad Newsome’s “Shade Composition” performance scheduled for Saturday, September 23, at 8PM, as part of #DLECTRICITY. One more audition will be held tomorrow, Friday, September 8, from Noon – 6PM at the Detroit Institute of Arts in their Lecture Hall (5200 Woodward, Detroit 48202). For more info, email: [email protected].

MORE DETAILS:

WHO:
Renowned New York based artist #RashaadNewsome is seeking charismatic and energetic self-identifying Black females between the ages of 18-35 who are serious, highly committed and professional. Artists, singers, performers, models and actresses are strongly encouraged.

First-and-Only U.S. UNESCO City of Design Kicks Off Month-Long Celebration of Art and Design Events in Detroit

Detroit Creative Corridor Center (DC3), Detroit Design 139, DLECTRICITY and Murals in the Market are collaborating to celebrate September as the ‘Month of Art and Design’ in Detroit. The citywide celebration of creativity will bring together designers, architects, artists and enthusiasts to honor Detroit’s role as a national and global design capital.

“Being a UNESCO City of Design is an invaluable opportunity and reflects our community’s dedication in positioning Detroit as a global center of creativity and innovation,” said Olga Stella, executive director of DC3. “Together with our partners, we are not only promoting Detroit as a design hub but also showcasing how creative industries can spur economic development and drive both social inclusion and cultural vibrancy.”

Events and experiences, throughout September, will highlight talent and innovation in Detroit’s creative community; offer stunning artistic experiences; and share the Detroit story with national and international audiences. While there are more than 365 designers and 55 events happening throughout the month, key events include:

• Detroit Design 139 — organized by the City of Detroit and Bedrock — is an exhibition that will display 38 architecture and design projects from across the city’s 139 square miles, collectively celebrating the city’s design legacy while also suggesting Detroit’s future built and natural environment. Staged in the heart of downtown (1001 Woodward) near Campus Martius Park, the installation will be open to the public every day from Sept. 14 – 30, 12-7 pm.  For a full listing of all design lectures, tours, and panel discussions that will be held in the exhibition space, please visit detroitdesign139.com.
• Murals in the Market will take place Sept. 21–28 at Detroit’s historic Eastern Market and will feature more than 50 talented artists painting “live” over the entire eight days through the district, as well as at six community market locations. The city’s only international mural festival will also feature talks, exhibitions and tours.
• DLECTRICITY, Detroit’s stunning nighttime outdoor festival of art and light, will take place in Midtown Detroit on Sept. 22 and 23 from 7 p.m. – midnight. The illumination spectacle will feature cutting-edge installations of light, video, performance, and other unexpected works of art from 36 multidisciplinary designers and artists. Detroiters are encouraged to sign up for the Light Bike Parade.
• DC3 kicks off September with its second Detroit City of Design Summit on Sept. 8, as well as with a series of events and workshops from Sept. 9-14 that explore the ways design can drive an inclusive future in the city.
  • Detroit’s recognition as the Guest City of Honor at 2017 Saint-Etienne International Design Biennale will be celebrated at the Detroit City of Design and The Future of Work exhibition from Sept. 8 – Oct. 7 at the College for Creative Studies.

• On Sept. 14, DC3 offers a preview of this year’s Detroit Design Festival at Drinks x Design with a Design Crawl through downtown. This year’s festival theme, Design is Everywhere, will showcase how thoughtful design—within the workplace to neighborhoods to goods and services—can impact, and even change, the way society functions and the way people experience the world around them.
  • Returning signature events will include Design Village, Eastern Market After Dark, Light Up Livernois, Youth Day. New to this year’s program is the Designer Putt-Putt Competition and the Urban Furniture Competition.

For more information, please contact the following:

• Detroit Design Festival: Sawyer Lipari / [email protected] / 313.309.9551
• Detroit Design 139: Gabrielle Poshadlo / [email protected] / 313.373.8657
• DLECTRICITY: Annmarie Borucki / [email protected] / 313.420.6000
• Murals in the Market: Jesse Cory / [email protected] / 313.744.6505

A live action experience, a piece of “sculptural media,” a non-scripted reality show, a work of constantly evolving performance art—every E.S.P. TV event is a different ride for viewers and producers alike.

Directors Scott Kiernan and Victoria Keddie bring their mobile television studio to live taping events, placing the TV production control room in the context of performance art. The episodes they create live are broadcast on Tuesday nights at 10pm on Channel 67 in Manhattan.

E.S.P. TV had their first solo show in the US at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn in February. They created a set that functioned as an office for the gallery and edited day-to-day activities into a reality show while on site. The show included administrative work and exhibition visitors in the 6-episode series. Production itself became performative as the set attempted to bring behind-the-scenes of both office and TV production into public view.

E.S.P. TV came to the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit for a live taping event in 2015. They are returning to Detroit with the second iteration of “You Don’t Say Much, Do You?,” a piece first done at Swiss Institute / Contemporary Art in New York City, for Dlectricity in September. The E.S.P. TV team will use recent local Detroit newscasts as source material to explore associative wordplay.

Catch it at MOCAD! Thank you so much to MOCAD for hosting this project.

Check out an interview with the creators here.

Akiko Nakayama uses liquids with different characteristics and other external factors to bring painting to life.

“Alive Painting” is a performance piece in which Nakayama uses different media to capture passing moments. During the performance, paints blend in real time and the viewer is able to concentrate on philosophical meaning. Nakayama’s work celebrates the ephemerality of life.

Based in Tokyo, Nakayama performs versions of “Alive Painting” around the world. Most recently, she performed at the Ars Electronic Festival in Austria in 2016, TEDxHaneda in Tokyo in 2015, and at the inaugural Media Art Festival in Takamatsu, Japan in 2015. Last month, Nakayama will be performed “Alive Painting” with the band Arsenal at the Lokerse Feesten in Lokeren, Belgium.

After receiving her MFA from Tokyo Zokei University in 2014, Nakayama has become a standout member of the Tokyo art scene. She had a solo exhibition in Tokyo in 2016 and was longlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize in 2017.

This performative installation will take place inside the sanctuary at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul sanctuary. Thanks to the Cathedral Church for hosting this project, and to Detroit Renewable Energy for sponsoring “Alive Painting!”

Check out her unique, vibrant and lively “Alive Painting” performances on her website here.

Alive Painting is sponsored by:

Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo, Angela Eastman + Maxime Robillard are coming together to bring a project that embraces many mediums to Dlectricity 2017!

“Every Side of Here: Searching for the Sacred” combines different genres of live score, performance and projection to bring wonder to viewers. The project draws on everything from scenes of people singing in religious spaces to packed dance floors in order to create connections between historical and contemporary ideas about the sacred. The performative and interactive event will be located on the grounds of the First Congregational Church.

In addition to this performance, Duncan-Portuondo, Eastman + Robillard will create a participatory mural project on the wooden wall that was built to keep the public out of the recently damaged porch area and facade of the church. You can read more about the damage that the church experienced HERE.

Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo is a Miami native, recently relocating to Detroit as an MFA candidate at Cranbrook Academy of Art. He uses light-based media to engage with community and shared memory, crafting architectural interventions, performances and installations. Angela Eastman is also an MFA student at Cranbrook, working playfully in sculpture and performance to study the connection between ecology and collective identity. She is currently completing an incubator residency at Talking Dolls Detroit, an experimental studio space co-run by another Dlectricity artist, Wes Taylor. Maxime Robillard lives in Queens, playing many roles while working as a musician and producer, furniture maker, installation artist, and set designer for photo and video shoots. He and Eastman have been collaborating since 2008.

Bringing together their unique styles and media, the trio’s work will address the overlap of traditional and contemporary; order and disorder; contemporary and divine.

Thank you so much to First Congregational Church for hosting this project!

Check out Angela Eastman and Maxime Robillard talking about their work here!

Check out their progress on Instagram: @refractologist (Duncan-Portuondo), @angelaeastman