Salon for Artistic Experimentation, May edition

We had a second Salon for Artistic Experimentation! This time there was an even wider range of experiments than before, with some returning folks and some newbies. Also the snacks were pretty diverse (including chocolatey homerun balls, banana flavored crunchies, sea creature puffs, and also hummus).

Here are the experiments we experienced and brainstormed about:

4321 project What are 4 books that changed your life? 3 songs that make you want to dance? 2 people you love dearly? 1 memory you’ll never forget? What would it be like to have an online archive of semi-anonymous profiles like this?

Skin-to-skin synth Suppose you could trigger digital sounds just by making skin contact with another person. How would you choreograph a relationship between movement, touch, and sound? What about childhood hand-clapping games like slide and pattycake?

Dancing words She moves her left leg; I say “potato!” She tilts her head; you say “banana!” The performer’s specifc movements cue an audience to say different words. The result is a cacophony of language and movement. How do they interact?

Conference with no humans Who… or what attends this event, inspired by the “non-human turn” in philosophy? What can they say and do? What kind of catering do robots like? Can the keynote address be given by a sock? What is the role of humans if they do attend?

Selfie Prints How does social media amplify and transform the presentation of identity? Can we tell a story about the life of a teenager through artifacts, digital and physical, private and public, presented as art prints?

Re-imagining the solo gallery show What experiences can we create in a gallery? Will people buy zines or other swag? Can the artist attend their own show in another persona? How to combine art prints, sculptural objects and live performance in the same space?

We’ll hold salons on the third friday of each month. The next one is Friday June 20th. What experiment will you bring?

Also, snacks.

April 18, 2014 SALON FOR ARTISTIC EXPERIMENTATION

What do these have in common?

• an interactive projection that lets you draw with light on the wall by moving your body
• an orchestra of iphones making shimmering sounds as you shake them
• a detailed print of an empty apartment after a party
• a question about the transformation of space with light
• an LED array filling the room with pinks and purples and greens, in sync with piano melodies
• a spoken word piece performed by a group in robot voice
• an improvisation game of singing emergent harmonies while lying on the floor

They're all artistic experiments! These were the experiences we shared at the first ever Salon for Artistic Experimentation, held at EMW on April 18, 2014. Artists, musicians, and writers gathered for a pot luck dinner, and then for the next two hours took turns sharing, critiquing and brainstorming. It was exciting to bring together such a mixed group of people and experiments. And even more importantly we were able to create a safe space for extended creative conversations about artistic work in progress.

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