#complex movements

Complex Movements is investigating the relationship between complex science and social justice movements in their interactive performance "Beware of the Dandelions." From April 3rd through April 6th, Complex Movements will be in residency at the Anacostia Arts Center as part of One Mic: Hip Hop Culture Worldwide. People are invited to work closely with the team to test low and high tech gaming scenarios and create a greater understanding of the underlying social justice principles embedded in "Beware of the Dandelions" through a series of workshops and intense collaborative work sessions.

Carlos "L05" Garcia, Invincible, Waajeed and Wesley Taylor with a model of the "Beware of the Dandelions" installation at the Complex Movements studio space in a former toy warehouse on the east side of Detroit.

Photo by Doug Coombe.

THURS JAN 9

DOORS 9:30PM . PERFORMANCES 11:00PM . DJS ALL NIGHT

THIRD FLOOR at THE PUBLIC THEATER 425 Lafayette Street / FREE

Invincible is a Detroit based lyricist, activist, media maker, and member of Complex Movements artist collective exploring the connections between complex science and social movements.

Wesley Taylor - Graphic Artist

I read a really great article about "the busy trap" that we often fall into, and how it is self inflicted; I think about it every time I tell someone I have been really busy, and it was the first thing to pop into my head when I was thinking about how to start this post off. I digress. 

So I've been really busy lately working with some amazing artists on an installation for ARTPRIZE 2012, which takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  It's a multi-part installation called Complex Movements, so keep an eye out for more updates about the future portions of the installation.

Firstly I'll start off with the venue for this particular installation. 

There are technically two public art museums in Grand Rapids. One of them has been abandoned (but well looked after) for nearly 18 years. That is the site of the Complex Movements installation. Being someone who loves to touch things, this was a dream come true. I hate that you can't touch things in most museums. I know why you're not supposed to, but it doesn't stop the urge. Anyways, this is the opposite of that!!! Here is a photo of Vanessa and I monkeying around in one of the exhibits (the metal giraffe art piece was not disturbed for this photo :)  )

The artists have basically full permission to touch, move, integrate, and manipulate the exhibits in the museum. Now I will say it more of a science museum, so moving a stuffed wolf isn't the same as moving a Rembrandt or something...but still!!!! I brought my girlfriend Vanessa along with me, who just happens to be a photographer. Here is a link to some pictures she took of the space, which is called SiTE:LAB. They also have a blog here.

Below is the portion of the project that I worked on.

I'll do a tech post on everything later, but here' a quick rundown: Five wireless RF pads triggered by FSR's transmit to a central node and an Arduino Mega. The Mega outputs to a darlington array to control the RGB LED's, and also to a MIDI box which is hooked up to a Mac Mini. The Mac Mini is running Ableton Live. There is an amplifier and 55 speakers behind all that business as well.

When you step on a pad it linked to a particular instrumental track in Ableton. Each of the five pads are different tracks. When all five have people stepping on them, the whole song is triggered. After the whole song plays it moves to the next of three songs, with five more unique tracks. 

There is an installation mode, which has the vocals in the Ableton tracks, and a performance mode which has no vocals. The music is a collaboration between Detroit hip-hop artists Waajeed and Invincible. They performed in the building, but in a remote location and were projection mapped to a lenticular. The mapping was handled by L05.

Tiff Massey also contributed to the installation. I didn't get any pictures of her finished stuff, but it was a lot of print work with intricate patterns surrounding the images, forming a large pattern. 

Be sure to check all of the artists out, they all do great things. Wesley Taylor, Invincible, Waajeed, L05, and Tiff Massey. Brian DuBois also helped build the speaker enclosure so can't forget him. 

The installation made the top five time-based and performance pieces. Check that out here, if you'd like: http://www.mlive.com/artprize/index.ssf/2012/09/artprize_2012_top_25_on_jurors_lists.html