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Ingenuity Fest merges art, technology
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BY: Lila Hanft Staff Reporter
Art and technology are opposites, right?
One is a celebration of human uniqueness — the singularity of the priceless painting and the originality of the artist’s sensibility. The other, by contrast, is less about individual achievement than the practical application of cumulative knowledge.
Not anymore. In a movement growing in strength since the 1960s, artists and engineers of all sorts have been gleefully dismantling the dubious dichotomy between technology and art. At the 2007 Ingenuity Fest July 19-22, you can see some of the best local, national and international practitioners of the creative technologies, hybrid art forms, and emerging media which James Levin and Thomas Mulready dubbed “ingenuity” when they founded the festival in 2005.
“What we achieve by bringing art and technology together is a way of enhancing and furthering the experience of both,” says Levin, festival executive director. “They’re both tools of expression.”
The festival’s lineup is drawn from all disciplines of visual art, music (live jazz, hip-hop, folk, rock, techno, and classical), and live performance (theater, ballet, step dancing, break-dancing, and contemporary dance). Exhibits of visual and digital arts appear side by side with poetry slams, stilt walkers, jugglers, parades, food, flowers, and activities for kids.
“There will be traditional arts — music, dance, theater, opera — in every nook and cranny at Playhouse Square,” says Levin. “Walking around you’ll experience an incredible inoculation of arts and culture.”
From passive to (inter)active
But wait, there’s more.
In storefronts along Euclid Ave. n storefronts that were empty a week ago n you’ll see 20 installations in which lasers, animation, robotics, and sensors make the art very interactive, Levin says.
“As soon as you walk into the exhibit, you’re part of the installation,” he says. In these pieces, the appearance of an observer on the scene immediately changes the installation itself, which means that “the viewer has a very different experience of the art.”
“If you like, you can shy away from the more interactive experiences and have a great time listening to more different kinds of music than you’ll ever hear in one place. But if you have the gumption to walk into the (former) Christian Science Reading Room (on Euclid Ave.), you’ll (see) technology (that) redefines what it is to experience a work of art,” Levin adds.
Compared to the Ingenuity Fest of previous years, Levin says this year “the level of amazement has been pushed up exponentially.”
lhanft@cjn.org
One is a celebration of human uniqueness — the singularity of the priceless painting and the originality of the artist’s sensibility. The other, by contrast, is less about individual achievement than the practical application of cumulative knowledge.
Not anymore. In a movement growing in strength since the 1960s, artists and engineers of all sorts have been gleefully dismantling the dubious dichotomy between technology and art. At the 2007 Ingenuity Fest July 19-22, you can see some of the best local, national and international practitioners of the creative technologies, hybrid art forms, and emerging media which James Levin and Thomas Mulready dubbed “ingenuity” when they founded the festival in 2005.
“What we achieve by bringing art and technology together is a way of enhancing and furthering the experience of both,” says Levin, festival executive director. “They’re both tools of expression.”
The festival’s lineup is drawn from all disciplines of visual art, music (live jazz, hip-hop, folk, rock, techno, and classical), and live performance (theater, ballet, step dancing, break-dancing, and contemporary dance). Exhibits of visual and digital arts appear side by side with poetry slams, stilt walkers, jugglers, parades, food, flowers, and activities for kids.
“There will be traditional arts — music, dance, theater, opera — in every nook and cranny at Playhouse Square,” says Levin. “Walking around you’ll experience an incredible inoculation of arts and culture.”
From passive to (inter)active
But wait, there’s more.
In storefronts along Euclid Ave. n storefronts that were empty a week ago n you’ll see 20 installations in which lasers, animation, robotics, and sensors make the art very interactive, Levin says.
“As soon as you walk into the exhibit, you’re part of the installation,” he says. In these pieces, the appearance of an observer on the scene immediately changes the installation itself, which means that “the viewer has a very different experience of the art.”
“If you like, you can shy away from the more interactive experiences and have a great time listening to more different kinds of music than you’ll ever hear in one place. But if you have the gumption to walk into the (former) Christian Science Reading Room (on Euclid Ave.), you’ll (see) technology (that) redefines what it is to experience a work of art,” Levin adds.
Compared to the Ingenuity Fest of previous years, Levin says this year “the level of amazement has been pushed up exponentially.”
lhanft@cjn.org
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