indi go gallery exhibit + take 3 + additional images

Thank you everyone who made it out to the gallery for our exhibit.  We could not have done it without you!  We had a great turn out, and overall, the week was quite successful.  The gallery exhibited a new installation that we call “lost in translation.”  A guest artist, Nibia Pastrana Santiago, interacted in a space by herself and it was videotaped.  We had a live performance in that same space, which was performed by Roy.  During his performance, we displayed her video on the wall next to the space Roy was currently painting.  Roy was to interact with her movements and with the painted remnants that she had left on the room that he was in.  They were seemingly dancing together; however, she was digital, and he was physically present.  The physical presence was somewhat there, but not quite.  We relate this to people chatting on the internet or to internet dating.  With this installation, there was a third space, or mediated space, which was the paint.  The paint on his body was able to physically contact the paint that Nibia had previously left.  The paint was the only factor that could physically interact.  Even though the people could not be present at the same time and place, their remnants could.  We are planning on focusing our next set of installations on the idea of the third space in relation to remnants, the witness, and human presence and interaction within a space. Please feel free to comment or ask questions by posting them to our website or through email.  All of the prints are available for purchase as well.

xx kelly

panoramic of the main gallery at our indi go exhibit

panoramic of the lower level at our indi go exhibit

live performance at indi go _”lost in translation” _ take 3

final space _ take 3

close up _ take 3

cut piece of the floor from take 1

close up from take 1

close up from take 1

close up from take 1

cut floor panel from take 1

take 2 in the indi go gallery

close up of amanda _ take 2

panoramic of roy _ take 2

roys booty _ take 1

pre paint dancing _ take 2

close up of the clothing _ take 2

Gallery Opening

Just a reminder_ we will be having a gallery exhibition at Indi Go Artist Co Op  from May 15-19

A private opening will be at 7-10pm on May 15

The public opening will happen from 12-6 pm on May 16.

It is graduation weekend, so feel free to bring your family and friends.  There will be beverages and appetizers provided.

un/witnessed space _ take 2

 

unwitnessed space _ take 2_ final prints

When humans are witness to someone else’s presence, do we re/act differently than if it was un-witnessed?

Our second installation includes three guest artists Amanda Pesch, Max Garland, and Courtney Brower. Amanda is a graduate of the BFA dance program at the University of Illinois. Max is an upcoming Masters of Architecture student at UIUC, and Courtney is a first year Masters of Architecture student at UIUC. The concept for this piece is human reaction to already used environments. At the beginning, the artists danced without paint within the space using all of the wall panels that were in the space.  Then, the guest artists watched Roy interact uniquely with four different panels that were all different shades of grey. Before interacting with the panels, he covered himself in blue paint so that his impression would be created on the panel surface. The new artists then were asked to interact with the same panels. Amanda was the second to print. Roy painted her in yellow paint, and she was asked to use the last three panels. She then covered Max in red paint. He interacted with the last two panels. Courtney was last to print. Max covered her in green paint and she could only interact with the last panel. Each artist was only allowed to have one gesture/movement per panel, so it gave them limited options as to what to do and where to position there bodies.

The result of this piece was quite interesting. It seemed like once there were prints on the panel, no one wanted to muddy over someone else’s print.  When there were no visible prints on the walls, the guest artists did not care where there bodies fell, even if they were rolling over someone else’s “print”.  Was it because they did not want to offend them?  Was it because they did not want to get their color muddied/dirty?  These questions are what this project is trying to bring forth.  When the remnants of someone else’s presence is visible, do we act differently than if they were invisible?

xx kelly

 

unwitnessed space _ take 2 _ roy + amanda + max + courtney

roy

 

amanda pesch _ guest artist

max garland _ guest artist

courtney brower _ guest artist

our new ad for PEPSI

 

roy = brilliance

our new line of t_shirts

 

 

 

 

unwitnessed space _ live at the annex

To all of you who have been following our work, we are producing work with three guest artists tomorrow (all day) in the UIUC architecture annex’s  main gallery.  Feel free to stop by and get in on the fun or check the website later this week for the new photos.

about the designers

Kelly Hensler _ is the new Architectural Designer for Capita Architecture in London, UK.  She is an upcoming Masters of Architecture graduate at the University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign.  She also has a B.S. in Interior Design from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has been active in the modern dance community at UIUC and prior to her studies there.  Her knowledge of interior space, architecture, and dance has led her to the idea for this series of installations.  Over the past year, she has been working on her Master’s Thesis that focuses on how design has the ability to (re)shape social, environmental, and political approaches of a community both locally and globally.  Currently, she works as an architecture teaching assistant and independently as an interior design consultant.  She also has recently won the Metropolitan Redux Competition at UIUC that sponsored her to participate in the Mackintosh Centenary International Student Design Competition in Glasgow, Scotland.

To see the rest of her bio, CV and portfolio, please go to www.knhensler.com

Roy Harrington Tracy _ studied the Cecchetti Method at the New Conservatory for Classical Ballet under the direction of Sue Ann Lorenz-Wallace. He then received his BFA in Dance from SUNY Brockport, and was awarded numerous travel grants and the Friars Foundation Award. While at SUNY Brockport, Roy danced with a small company created by Richard Haisma called Geomantics in Rochester, N.Y. Roy also studied at the Edna Manley School of Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica in the summer of 2004. Through the work Roy has done with SUNY Brockport faculty member James Hansen, Roy has performed at Jacobs Pillow for the Inside/Out festival, The International Dance Festival in NYC, and at the American College Dance Festival National Conference at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Roy performed work choreographed by Bill Evans for numerous conferences as well as Govenor Eliot Spitzers Inauguration in Albany N.Y. For Roy’s Senior project, Doug Varone set a solo on him for the annual Senior Solo Concert at SUNY Brockport. Other choreographers Roy has worked with include Mariah Maloney, Dr. Maura Keefe, Heather Roffe, Stacy Pottinger and Nicholas Duran. Currently Roy is an MFA candidate and TA in the Department of Dance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Jason Tran _  is an upcoming graduate of the B.S. of Architectural Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Throughout his college career, he has pursued photography as a medium of 2-dimensional expression of space and time.  Inevitably, the two fields of photography and design emerged as a single passion for artistic expression and understanding at all perspectives.

time reel _ imprinting human interactions

shower dialogue _ 3

The time reel shows the effects of human interactions over time that happen with each other and the built environment.  Each person was only allowed to use one set of paint colors, and based on their interactions with the other person and the wall/floor panels, the colors would combine to show how each person used both each other and the panels.  At the beginning, the space is pristine and untouched by man.  The colors soon apply themselves to the individuals and panels, but still remain extremely segregated from the color of the other person.  As the two people converge and use each other as supports and tools, the panels and clothing start to merge in color and shade. Near the end, the space and clothing are a complete mess and it is hard to tell which prints came from which individual.

This concept generates thought of not only how humans interact with space, but with each other.  It shows how human interaction is both necessary and desired in order to create a more holistic and complete environment.

xx kelly

shower dialogue_2

What we are trying to express in these installations is the history that space contains, which is not visible to the passing eye. Specific events can be witnessed by a living entity, which perpetuate the event as a historical happening, but only that a witness will have the privilege of bearing the metaphysical mark left on the space. A great deal of my work focuses on the concepts presented by the 17^th century philosopher, George Berkeley. Berkeley proposes the concepts of immaterialism and objectivity. One example of his philosophy is reflected in is known question; “If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound.” The answer to this question is unattainable through forms of logic and reasoning as both sides can be argued. For myself, and in my own work, I believe that sound is thunderous. To consider the history of objects and created space, to imagine all of the interactions those places and things have endured with other objects and living entities, namely human beings, we can only imagine what events they have witnessed. Perhaps cliché, but a thought to consider is the phrase “If walls could talk.”

What we are trying to facilitate through our project and this exhibition is the conceptualization, if not realization of the impact that occurs between entity and said space. We leave our marks on the wall panels, while the event itself informs what comes next throughout the process. The medium, the paint, spreads both on the stark white panels as well as our own bodies and clothing. The paint represents the action of the event. The paint is in of itself a verb as much as it is a noun: I am, I exist, I occur, I am what is happening. The walls, which are the unoccupied space, are the canvas that receives the action and bears the mark thus making it an artifact of the event. The clothing acts as a more temporal surface. Clothing holds history as well. If we consider how much an article of clothing witnesses in a single day of wear, simply from walking down a street, the knowledge it would hold is gargantuan. Lastly we consider the living witness. Through our observation of events in space, our ability to make sophisticated judgments, and to anticipate and reflect on past and potential histories; we ourselves are able to contextualize the marks, both visible and imagined, that are left on a space.

In an exhibit, we share with the viewers the marks we left on these panels and now invite you to witness the event of the exhibition itself. But even still, we can only imagine where the artifacts have been since the event.  The paint and panels were created on the factory floor, hands that have touched them through packaging/shipping/un-packaging, they are displayed on the store premises, they were up and prepared for the event, and once displayed in the gallery their history continues to grow.

Living entities withhold experiences in memory and we do not show visible marks to the public either. It is perhaps easier to feel empathy toward other living beings for their history because we are aware of our own. But we offer the consideration of all spaces you encounter to reflect and imagine the events that have gone un-witnessed or at least unknown to you/us.

xo Roy