Upcoming | Marina Abramovic Institute in Hudson: Ephemeral Becomes Permanent

Yesterday in Hudson (NY) Marina Abramovic introduced plans for the Marina Abramovic Institute for the Preservation of Performance Art (MAI). The presentation occurred in the same former Community Tennis Building, which will be hosting MAI: a pretending neoclassical run-down building1from 1929, with 20,000 square feet of space The Community Tennis Building is located in Columbia Street, one block from Warren Street, Hudson main street which has undergone a revitalization in the past two decades with the ubiquitous antique dealers shops and art galleries. There is no set opening date for  MAI but, from Marina Abramovic presentation the Institute sounds definitely innovative  and hopefully will include also projects by the many artists populated the Hudson Valley, which witnessed the birth one of the first American art movements, the Hudson River School of Painting. 

The renovated building will be filled with chambers to induce several participatory experiences in the visitors, well beyond the typical superficial browsing which is often the main experience of art galleries and museum goers. The visitors will have to sign a contract before entering MAI, stating that their visit will last at least six hours. Several level of engagements will be offered, in the attempt to blur the line between artist performers and viewing audience, which will wear a lab coat, as a participant to what the artist defines as the "Abramovic method." One chamber will be filled with magnets and crystals to awaken and channel individual energy. Another visitor experience will be in the "durational chair", designed by the artist; each chair will be manouvred by an attendant who will wheel tired visitors to sleeping area. 

Abramovic announced that before starting to implement her vision she has to raise $15 million need for the renovation. The building renovation and retrofitting is designed by the Dutch archistar Rem Koolhaas of OMA and, at least from the model on view at the presentation (no walkthrough or other digital interactive visualization was presented) does not look dynamic and intriguing as the vision of Abramovic. Very static rationalist interior elevations do not seem to take in account the time based experience which characterizes a fluid art form as performance.

At the end of the presentation there was a screening, quite beautiful, of one of her first performances in the building, a kind of initiation in the relationship between the artist and the space she chose to give permanence to the ephemerality of performance art.

Down by the Water | Music and Sunset by the Hudson River

A few visual memories from last night at Henry Hudson Riverfront Park. with stunning views of the sunset, while listening to music from live performances at the Hudson.Water.Music festival.

Art Practice at Sun Farm | Topological Meditations

I am continuing to explore, with outdoor sculpture, how geometry shapes structure.

The  relations length/width of the eight-fold symmetry of "Looping Circles 10x50" revealed not to be sufficient to create a not collapsible structure. The sculpture location is East Spiral at Sun Farm; each circle create a frame for the sun setting and framing.

Topological Meditations explores the geometric expressions of cuts into different types of materials, from aluminum to polycarbonate and paper. The cut in a material has the multiple function of shaping a form as well as providing the structural stability of the form —as the twisting and bending of the two dimensional elements creates rigidity, or illusionary perception of three-dimensionality from a two-dimensional composition.

Remote Space and Local Time | "Curiosity" Rover on Mars

 Image (courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/University of Arizona) showing the location (green) of NASA's Curiosity rover landing on Mars within Gale Crater

Culture defines our experience of space beyond its perceptual characteristics. In the contemporary world, where human interaction revolves around digital technologies and telecommunications, we seemingly experience locality and proximity differently from our predecessors. A distinction between local and remote space arises: the traditional space of our perceptions, circumscribed in our cone of vision and confined to our horizon line --once identifying space itself-- now becomes defined as local. Remote space instead is exemplified by a streaming video, a phone text message and voice call, or an Internet chat. The expansion of space boundaries goes beyond human perception: not only can we see images and communicate with people and places thousands of miles away but we can interact with outer space as well. The shift of the notion of space from physical and local to whimsical and remote is well expressed by the latest NASA mission: the Curiosity rover landing on Mars. Images of the planet were sent to Earth and made publicly available. Crowds gathered to a live broadcast at the Toshiba screen in Times Square. Paradoxically the act of perceiving went beyond our sensorial capabilities.

But is this contemporary notion of space a real shift or does it represent only a different way to grasp remote space? or just a different way to express the relation between local space the space where our body moves and remote space, physically not  present but perceivable? The relation between local and remote has been researched from the very ancient cultures, often  originating myths, religious beliefs political and social systems. But a major difference can be traced. The widening of our contemporary horizon brought by the artificial extension of the five human senses is often divorced from the local environment. It seems that there is an increasing loss of contact with the physical world: permanent signs of human presence in the physical environment becomes increasingly meaningful.
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excerpts from upcoming iBook

Signs, Between Earth and Sky

3-D view in front of NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT). The anaglyph was made from a stereo pair of Hazard-Avoidance Cameras on the front of the rover. The image is cropped but part of Mount Sharp, a peak that is about 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) high, is still visible rising above the terrain.

Image and caption courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/University of Arizona

Water Journey Loop | Rocks and Locks at Little Falls

My water journey loop closes with the industrial water driven landscapes where it began in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I admire more man made water interactions at one of the most picturesque locks of the Erie Canal at Little Falls, NY. Here the rocks carved by the Mohawk river meet the manmade lock of the canal, one of the highest in the world, as the NY State Highways sign proudly informs.

Water Journey | Finding the Moon While Looking for the Sun

 And finally the sun rising from the mist was found in the other side of Landon Bay. The two suns could be admired in a kaleidoscopic dream, interrupted only by a trailer crashing only a few feet away! I am still thanking the Universe for my safety and being untouched by the scary accident.

Down by the Water | Waterdreams: Thousand Islands

Where the Saint Lawrence river meets Lake Ontario lands emerge with over 1000 islands; a surreal atmosphere, particularly the meeting between land and water is greeted by a misty fog.

Engineering Water: Locks in the Rideau Canal

 One my favorite places of my "water journey": Kingston Mills locks of the Rideau Canal. I was finally able to see how how water locks work. What a great man-nature collaboration!