Collective Notions

December

Chris Burden’s Beam Drop at the Brazillian Inhotim Instituto de Arte Contemporânea e Jardim Botânico, as documented by Pablo Lobato.

From the (Google) translated Portuguese on this listing, with some guesswork:

[This] video documents the performance made by the artist Chris Burden [at the Inhotim Institute of Contemporary Art and Botanical Gardens], which resulted in the work Inhotim Beam Drop (2008). Directed by Pablo Lobato, the video was produced [for] the Web.

Beam Drop (2008) is a large-format sculpture — located on top of a mountain — made of 71 construction beams thrown by a crane from a height of 45 meters into a ditch full of wet cement during a period of 12 hours. The random pattern of fallen beams formed the work, an interpretation of the gestures of abstract expressionism, while proposing a deconstruction of modern sculpture. This piece is the recreation in larger format of a work originally installed in 1984 at the Art Park in the State of New York, and destroyed in 1987.

(via hyde or die)

This post has 1 note and tag: # art # chris burden # sculpture # brazil .

October

(Wall Flower No.1 by Norman Mooney, photo: Candice Heberer)

Bring to Light
This past weekend, Michael and I attended Bring to Light, New York City’s first Nuit Blanche festival. It’s a one-night gathering of artists, performers and musicians that starts at dusk and goes all night. Having been lucky enough to attend similar events in both Toronto and Tel Aviv, I was pretty excited to find out that this festival was taking place in my own backyard, Greenpoint.

Initially, I was a little underwhelmed and even slightly disappointed with the limited scale and breadth of the event, but as I made my way through the streets, I stumbled upon a few pieces that piqued my interest and gave me food for thought in the days after.

The photo above highlights one of the works I was particularly fond of that night. A new work, Wall Flower No.1 by Norman Mooney. His exhibited work included both wall and free-standing sculptures made of cast aluminum and/or resin of various bright colors, as well as large scale carbon drawings on paper. I was personally drawn to the wall sculptures; I like the play between 2D and 3D that is created depending on your distance and angle to the piece. From a distance and straight-on perspective, the sculptures appear as pristine large-scale drawings or paintings of color bursts that appear soft and feel somewhat reserved, but moving to the side or getting closer you are confronted with sharp protruding spikes, which in contrast are loud and imposing. I’m intrigued by the simplicity of form and color and its ability to incorporate such different feelings.

Another piece that I enjoyed (better seen in person) was a light projection by artist Ryan Uzilevsky of Light Harvest. Using a seven-story building as his backdrop, he projected a 6x3 grid of rectangles which fit nicely into the exterior facade and gave the illusion that you were looking into the interior. I’ve heard the content was changing all night, but the loop that I witnessed filtered through a variety of geometric compositions that reminded me of Bauhaus architectural drawings and light value studies. It was minimal, clean and gave new depth to the side of the building.

All in all, I think the night was a good foundation for growth and I’ll be looking forward to next year. In addition, I was happy to see families and kids in attendance. I appreciate events that, whether a goal or not, help to create a more comfortable and approachable venue to view and appreciate art.

—Candice

This post has 1 note and tag: # art # Nuit Blanche # light # Bring to Light # Greenpoint # NYC # sculpture .

September

Bending Metal at the Madagascar Institute
Last week I stopped by the Madagascar Institute while they were in the shop prepping for Maker Faire New York. I stumbled on their website a few weeks ago, and was impressed by their kinetic sculptures / experiments like the rocket-powered “Death Rattler” fish above.

When I got to their studio in Gowanus, I peeked my head in the loading dock and was greeted by co-founder Chris Hackett. He talked a bit about what they were working on — a 360º swing, rides for the chariot race, and a big sculpture in back. Then he showed me an ugly gash with sutures on his hand and said “we also do stitches.”

I stepped into the shop and was almost immediately given a pliers, tin snips, pair of gloves, and a paint marker and set to work helping build the “Voodoo Lily.” I then spent the next few hours wrestling metal grating into a wire armature, forming what would eventually become a metal petal. I never quite got the full story, but from what I can tell the finished product will involve a lot of spinning metal and flames.

He wasn’t kidding about the stitches, either — later I watched Hackett undergo “surgery” on his hand and have the sutures replaced. Somebody caught it on video, so you can watch it too if you can stomach it.

You can find the Madagascar Institute at Maker Faire this weekend, or see their schedule for classes — including their $60 welding workshop that I’ll certainly be checking out.

—Andy

This post has Notes and tag: # Gowanus # Madagascar Institute # bikes # DIY # sculpture # Maker Faire .