public art proposals

The bubble project is coming along. Last week Jarod and I submitted a few proposals through CaFE, a site that hosts calls for submissions and applications for a wide range of artistic projects. The above image is of our aluminum "tool" that we cast ourselves in our foundry at the College of Charleston. This will be given to our plastic fabricators as a mold for the plastic bubbles (seen below). Jarod used his photoshopping genius to fix up the aluminum surface. We will work through the summer to get it to actually look like this, repairing holes and cracks with Devcon Aluminim Putty.

Below is another photoshopped image of a VERY basic example of how the bubble tiles may be installed, however, we hope to see this realized on a MUCH larger scale.

And if you're interested... here is part of our statement about the project... our design approach, if you will.

Charzewski and Moore’s collaborative approach to the design will undoubtedly be based upon our individual art practices. What unites our work is our use of the topographical style, or the grid, as a basic reference and starting point. The grid is a common denominator for engagement in our work and the final result is orderly, yet fluid, and slightly chaotic when necessary.

Part of our design strategy will encompass this topographical style and will result in a sort of controlled chaos. Our collaborative project, involves the replication of a single module, or master tile, which contains a sculptured surface of a bubble eruption that appears to be random to the viewer. The individual bubbles are specifically placed on the master tile so that when another identical tile is placed next to it is continues the bubble topography. We would like to mass produce these identical tiles, and with them create a large-scale installation that responds to existing architecture and enhances the surrounding environment.

darkness/light

This past weekend was the big performance of "Collaborations: a dance concert." It turned out to be a really great show all-around. The piece I worked on, "Darkness/light," ended the show with a bang. I was wildly impressed with the lighting, the costuming, the choreography, and especially the dancers! Those girls were fearless! They climbed on and in and through my sculpture with such grace, despite the fact that they had only gotten to practice with the structures a small number of times.

I'm hoping to get some video clips soon, but for now I have some photos to share. These are shown in order of their appearance on stage. As you can see, the stage starts out dark, and the dancers are in silhouette. Next they move behind the screen (or "wave" as they like to call it), and gradually, the light comes up and the audience can see them full light.

Did I mention how incredibly awesome these girls are?!

thanks to Arianna Megaro for the photos!

Collaborations: a dance concert

This weekend will be the debut of a project I've been working on for the past few months. For part of this dance performance, centered upon the theme of collaboration, I have been working collaboratively with choreographer and CofC dance faculty, Gretchen McLaine, to develop an interactive sculpture/set for her dancers. The entire set is composed of three pieces... an object on which the dancers will climb (as seen in the image above), a screen behind which the dancers will be making shadows, and an overhead piece that will be flown in (mainly for visual effect).

It's been a truly collaborative process. My design was inspired by Gretchen's concept for the piece, which we've titled Darkness/Light, as well as my own aesthetic and interest in interaction. Gretchen's choreography was built upon the elements that I designed. The choreography is also designed with costuming and lighting in mind. When all the elements come together, it is quite an incredible production. Definitely worth checking out, if I do say so myself...
If you can't make it to the show this weekend, we will be performing an excerpt at Kulture Klash on April 9th... more on that to come!

sculpture/dance collaboration

I'm currently working on a collaboration with Gretchen McLaine, a dance professor at the College of Charleston. The product of our collaboration will be a dance piece that has been choreographed around a sculptural set that I have designed, in response to her concepts for the dance, dealing with darkness and light, shadows, etc.. The structure seen above is one of several elements that make up my contribution. It is an object of sorts that the dancers will interact with in a variety of ways. They will climb on it, inside of it, through it, pick it up, move it, hang from it, jump on it, off of it, and more! I'm very excited to see the end product... so far I have a really good feeling about how it is all coming together. The sculptures, the movements, the costumes, the lighting, the music... it's all working quite nicely! See the video below (from yesterday's rehearsal) for a rough sneak peek.

The performance will be the 19th-21st of March... more info to come!