Entrants ask voters to interact with Artprize E-mail
by Patrick Revere

Tommy Allen brings interactive art to perhaps its most fundamental form – the simple, or not-so simple kiss.

Among the more than 1,200 entries to Grand Rapids’ inaugural ArtPrize competition is a small collection of pieces that encourage audience involvement. In some cases, the voting public makes or changes the art with their presence.

Participants at Kissing Booth can express themselves through a kiss, take away a photo of the experience and view photos from a previous kissing booth experiment that focuses on GLBT relationships.

Allen is a longtime Grand Rapids resident who has shown his work in New York, Italy and Michigan. His goal for ArtPrize is to document a thematic moment in time, set in 1930s Paris, in which hundreds of ArtPrize visitors will kiss before a camera and contribute to a grand social experiment.

“I direct in a certain sense,” Allen says. “But it’s a dramatic endeavor as well because I never know what the outcome will be. I’m asking for people to come and participate and help me see what this will be.”

The Kissing Booth kickoff party will be at 8 p.m. on Sept. 24 at San Chez Bistro, 38 W. Fulton Street.


From the romantic to the whimsical, Grand Rapids’ young social broker Rob Bliss has engaged volunteers to fly 100,000 color-coordinated paper planes from downtown buildings in what will become a soaring rainbow set to the tune of some 5,000 young musicians.

Bliss hosts plane-folding parties each weekend at his house, and farms out some of the work to local schools. Anyone who plays an instrument or wants to hum a tune can follow along at the midday event on Sept. 27 at Monroe Center.

“It’s not tricky. It’s just an eight bar, celebratory melody,” Bliss said. “Without ever having heard it before, you could come down and within a couple launches have an understanding of what to do.”

Milt Friedly, an artist from Elizabethtown, PA, brings his entry, The Enigmatic Self, to Purple East at 250 Ionia Ave. SW.

The focal point of the exhibit is a “morphing” sculpture that appears to change with the movement of the viewer. Friedly uses spoken word, music, mirrors and a foggy smoke to alter the viewer’s perception of the piece, which becomes the art itself.

“As one moves, the self-image is seen in the mirrors, broken by negative spaces,” Friedly says. “A motion sensor sets off a light stream of fog, which ascends above the image.”


More Interactive Artprize Entries:

Megan Heeres
“Things That Go”
The Old Federal Building at 155 N. Division Ave.

Heeres creates a series of kinetic sculptures and drawings that are formed through the pulling of cords and flipping of switches. The public is invited to participate. She is interested in the exploration of conversations concerning art.

Michael Flynn
“The Ferrofluid Magnetoscope”
The B.O.B. at 20 Monroe Ave. NW

Flynn’s experiment allows the user to position powerful magnets to levitate a magnetic liquid. People discover they must cooperate in movement to explore the potential of their dynamic liquid sculpture.

Todd and Kiaralinda Ramquist
“Peace on Earth, Piece by Piece”
The B.O.B. at 20 Monroe Ave. NW

Make a peaceflag and be part of the largest interactive peaceflag installation ever. Inspired by a trip to Burma, the couple will re-hang flags from a previous installation and inspire people to make their own. String lines and lights will be set up to accommodate the growing number of flags through the duration of Artprize.

Rebecca Vanderhart
“Bird in Flight”
Mel Trotter Ministries, 225 Commerce Ave. SW

The exhibit is a sculpture accompanied by three rotating prisms that can be pushed and pulled by the viewer to change the image and the experience. The scene is of a white penkin duck taking flight. The painting is done with vegetable dye and, yes, a live duck. Vanderhart assures viewers that no animal is harmed in the artistic process. They are her pets, in fact, and are all very well loved.

Mary Vandenberg
“Step up to the Easel”
The B.O.B., 20 Monroe Ave. NW

By bringing the art studio outside, Vandenberg plans to disrupt, alter and refine her artistic process. At various time throughout the process, viewers will be asked to intercede and help create the final piece.

Holly Bechiri
“Pages”
45 Ottawa Ave.

A collection of handmade journals, collages, mixed media work, and writing. Designed as a conversation between observations from Bechiri’s life and the viewers thoughts and perspectives. There also will be empty handmade books and various drawing and writing tools available for visitors.


ArtPrize Details:

Dates: September 23-October 10

Locations: Downtown Grand Rapids and surrounding neighborhoods

GRNow Guide to ArtPrize Website: artprize.org



Published: September 21, 2009
 
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