Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis: Updates from the Convention

Monday, May 05, 2008

Updates from the Convention

DENVER MAYOR UNVEILS DIALOG:CITY: AN EVENT CONVERGING ART, DEMOCRACY AND DIGITAL MEDIA Details of participating artists and exhibitions scheduled for August 21-29 announced at Monday press conference.

Denver, CO - May 5, 2008 - At a news conference today, Mayor Hickenlooper announced Dialog:City, an event converging art, democracy and digital media that will involve 10 site-specific art installations in neighborhoods throughout Denver from Aug. 21-29.
Dialog:City is an official public program of the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee and is organized by the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs.

"It's no accident that the 'greenest' and most creative Democratic National Convention in history will occur in Denver this August," said Mayor Hickenlooper. "With one of the highest-educated populations in the United States, a technology-driven economy and world-class art institutions, Denver is prime for an event of this scale."

World-renowned artists ranging from a MacArthur Fellow to a leading "green" design faculty member will come together to create a series of innovative commissioned works in conjunction with local organizations and students.

Dialog:City artists are: Charlie Cannon and students from the Rhode Island School of Design (representing numerous states/countries)· Minsuk Cho (South Korea)· R. Luke Dubois (New York)· Ann Hamilton (Ohio)· Sharon Hayes (New York)· Lynn Hershman (California)· Daniel Peltz (Rhode Island)· D.J. Spooky, a.k.a. Paul Miller (New York)· spurse collective (representing numerous states/countries)· Krzysztof Wodiczko (Poland)

Brief descriptions of the artists' projects follow:

Charlie Cannon and students from the Rhode Island School of Design's Innovation Studio will present visual designs in the categories of buildings, food, energy, "greening" cities, water and transportation. Focusing on what actions can be taken now, Partly Sunny: Designs to Change the Forecast includes collaboration with GreenPrint Denver, the Dirt Café Project, Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design and Green Order.

Minsuk Cho's architectural Pavilion for Public Discourse will be installed in City Park. This pneumatic structure will levitate, creating a sculptural canopy. Events, symposiums and parties will assemble at this new model for a public square.

Hindsight is Always 20/20 is R. Luke DuBois' presentation of high-frequency words from presidential State of the Union addresses. The words have been translated into the visual hierarchy of an eye chart and will be presented as light boxes in front of the Denver Performing Arts Complex.

Choirs are the central theme of Ann Hamilton's site-specific performance. She will work with and choreograph her movement with five Denver-based choirs to perform an innovative interpretation of a round format, passing voices to one another. This musical exchange of call and response represents dialogue based on listening.

Sharon Hayes will work with 75 to 100 volunteer performers to simultaneously recite a text that reframes queer identity in public life. Produced in partnership with the nationally celebrated contemporary art agency Creative Time, Hayes' performance responds to the recent expression of queer identity in politics.

Lynn Hershman's DiNA is an artificial being running for president. DiNA is fully interactive; audiences will be able to ask her questions about her issue platform. Artificial Intelligence is better than no Intelligence at all brings cutting-edge technologies and the political race into a convergent and dynamic demonstration at The Lab of Art and Ideas at Belmar.

Daniel Peltz will present his new work, Participatory Democracy and the future of Karaoke, in which Peltz transcribes public addresses by presidential candidates in the 2008 election into a karaoke format to be presented and performed at bars, clubs and restaurants across Denver.

D.J. Spooky, a.k.a. Paul Miller, will perform Terra Nova: The Antarctic Suite at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. In keeping with the Convention's green theme, his work is a multimedia experience that samples from his recordings of the sights and sounds of ice breaking and melting in Antarctica.

The spurse collective will create a series of walking tours in which audiences can listen to sound based upon existing seismic and geographical data sets for Denver specifically where audiences will travel.

Krzysztof Wodiczko's project will use media to empower veterans of recent wars. A collaboration with Denver's Road Home, Wodiczko will develop a project that engages Denver veterans and their experiences to create a public conversation on the trauma of war.

Participation in Dialog:City will be open to all citizens of Denver and to visitors from around the world. While the exhibitions will be concurrent, each will have a dedicated opening enabling the public to attend every event. Dialog:City will be the first program of its kind at a party convention.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hickenlooper??

5/05/2008 3:37 PM  
Blogger CelticDiva said...

Heh - great name, isn't it?

5/05/2008 4:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

well I'd hate to see how the campaign signs looked.

5/05/2008 9:59 PM  

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