#sosatsu

For my extended lab, I had planned to host Lorne Covington of NoirFlux for Students of Sustainability at Syracuse University's Mural Unveiling event on April 25th at Hungry Chuck's Cafe on S. Crouse. Unfortunately, due to the rainy weather Lorne had to cancel on me last minute so my extended lab actually never happened.

We had planned to set up in on either the Brueggers wall in that alley way next to the mural or on the blank wall of Funk n' Waffles, since the screen has to be projected on a blank wall for optimal effects. I had also planned to bring my Jambox and play electronic music (Daft Punk, Duck Sauce, Flume, Ratatat, etc.). The manager of Chuck's was very supportive of this idea, so hopefully we will be able to pull it off in the fall.

I wanted to bring Lorne to campus and use this technology as an activity for the event to raise awareness for SOSatSU and to also celebrate Mayfest/Blockparty since the projection was going to be "Dancing Light," which is currently on display at the MOST museum in Armory Square. Since Lorne and I had coordinated this somewhat last minute, there was not enough time to create new, environmental skewed graphics for the projector. However, as Public Relations Director for Students of Sustainability next year, I hope to utilize this technology and Lorne's willingness to help us and incorporate visuals that reflect climate change and/or ocean pollution for outdoor art installations.

For the Mural Unveiling party, I primarily wanted to tie Noirflux in just to see how people reacted to the screen for research on future art installation events. Does the screen increase people's likelihood to attend the event and engage with SOSatSU? Should we incorporate this into more of our events in the future? Can it be used as a learning mechanism?

Based on my previous experience taking non-Newhouse friends to see Lorne's exhibit at MOST, I assumed that people going to the bars would be amused by the screens and would most likely interact with it and ask questions. Because of this, I figured (as an advertising major), this would be a great way to promote the club as well as our Sustainable Art Project (S.A.P.) initiative. The mural was created to 1) create art from trash 2) beautify the city 3) promote SOSatSU as a whole and 4) inspire people into action. Members of SOSatSU strongly believe that art has the power to make people think and empower more so than holding meetings or getting students to attend a specific film screening or lecture, etc. As SOSatSU establishes themselves, we want to use more art installations to help people remember that we are all just humans living on this planet and it is important to do our part to protect it and want to protect it for personal and planetary health.

I hope to accomplish this next year, as I mentioned earlier.

I invite you all to check out the mural outside of Chucks! See image below: