creativerights-blog

[creativerights-blog]

There is a starting point and an ending point. We move forward, slowly and on a tilted axis. The process is the work that enables one to move from the former to the latter.  This is the direction the conveyor belt grinds in the Industrial Complex of creating.

LOT49

Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration

May 11, 2013 JAM HANDY 2900 Grand Blvd Detroit, MI 48202

Doors at 8:00 pm

[creativerights-blog]

Using the collaborative process itself as the primary medium, the performance defines art as an act of labor. 

LAMINAE

Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration

May 11, 2013 JAM HANDY 2900 Grand Blvd Detroit, MI 48202

Doors at 8:00 pm

[creativerights-blog]

We bury, even burrow. To protect, have control, feel secure. But sometimes we have to disentomb ourselves to know ourselves.

CRUX

Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration

May 11, 2013 JAM HANDY 2900 Grand Blvd Detroit, MI 48202

Doors at 8:00 pm

https://www.facebook.com/events/366738363435738/?fref=ts

[creativerights-blog]

We bury, even burrow. To protect, have control, feel secure. But sometimes we have to disentomb ourselves to know ourselves.

CRUX

Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration

May 11, 2013 JAM HANDY 2900 Grand Blvd Detroit, MI 48202

Doors at 8:00 pm

[creativerights-blog]

What is the process of creation? When did you decide what creation meant to you? What your own creation story is, how you came to be as you are today?

Our journey has taken us through some of the human paths of spirituality, self-knowledge, and self-actualization. We looked at the traditional creation stories which led immediately to delving into a diverse range of creativity.

We were also incredibly inspired by personal thoughts and stories of creation gathered from interviews and crowdsourcing. These images, these concepts, these ideas are what drove us to create the Tree of Knowledge, Concept of Creation, Diagram for Living, Idea Chart, Tree of Life....or was this all here before our inventions?

We’re working to bring some of those stories and thoughts to our audience directly in our installation/performance while also developing a visual environment that we’re hoping will resonate and spark some energy in the realm of self-knowledge and self- creation.

Knowledge comes from within, from curiosity, from discovery. Search the hidden, find yourself, find your world. Find your Self.

MOVEABLE TEXT

Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration

May 11, 2013 JAM HANDY 2900 Grand Blvd Detroit, MI 48202

Doors at 8:00 pm

[creativerights-blog]

Origins & Endings: Meet the participating artists

(From left) Renee Willoughby, Karilu Forshee, and Andy Hawkes are Crux

Secrets don't make friends... they make collectives.  It was almost as hard to get these three in the same room as it was to get a picture of them.  True to Crux form, they adhered to their own methods and we recently sat down with Renee and Andy while Karilu skyped in.  A reminder that our participants are working professionals outside of this experiment and scheduling, timing, as well as distance over the past three months has been a challenge at times.

From Renee:

This process is so unique really, we are all such travelers which has caused a bit of difficulty in being able to meet regularly, but I feel that these experiences have enriched and informed us. I've only recently started doing  collaborative work and it has been so rewarding and made me eager to do more. 

I tend to be a very internal person, engrossed by my thoughts and obsessing over an idea. 

I started thinking about wanting to convey this notion of dirtiness and the absurdity of purity. That we are all as much chaos as we are balance and how we can revel in that. 

So we talked about the telling of a secret, and how the shame of hiding one can consume you. How the act of letting it go, even to something inanimate can be a release from such burdens. 

I have also had this fascination with butoh lately, the free form expressiveness of it and how it often stems form the idea of phantoms and ghosts or shadows of something. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnR1FJ6yQq4

  Maybe we should all embrace our own shadows.

From Andy:

It is a bit strange, I have always thought of art as a communal practice finding myself working alongside others and often times disliking being solitary in a studio. Somehow though, despite working next to many different creative people I have never truly collaborated with others and in a way, kept my creative practice from mixing with others.  I don’t think this was an intentional choice but I won’t split hairs on this.  I am the sort of artist that thinks quietly while driving, and opens empty files on my computer, free writes a few lines and then obsesses over a sentence. And In a way I want to make that sentence come to life, and much of my time is spent trying to think of ways to visually birth a short poem into a visual experience.  For example, on my computer is a file named want.doc, and when you open it in word all it says is “Want me -- Please”.  It is somewhat hard to create art with two other people, based on 3 words and so I am forcing myself to draw, to share clips from films and to try to share my ideas in ways that I am not really used to doing. I’ll have an idea while shopping for groceries and then be faced with the challenge of how to share with with two other people with different points of reference and artistic goals. The phrase “dirty hands and something I can’t tell you” is sort of where my ideas for this project came from, and I thought almost instantly of these two scenes from Wong Kar Wai films, that deal with secrets, shame and letting go.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgO_sCXrK4s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubJ09At2Pnk

[creativerights-blog]

Origins & Endings: Meet the participating artists

(from left) Desiree Duell, Loralei Byatt, Veronica Callan, Erin Garber-Pearson are Laminae

Why have three when you can have four? One of the special conditions for submitting to this experiment was the ability for companies, groups, or in this case- duos to submit together.  Erin and Veronica have worked together for quite some time and joined OE as an 'aerial performance duo.' Laminae features four wonderful women and we are lucky to have each of them.

Sitting in Loralei's studio in Detroit, we were reminded that collaboration does not always come easy.  With a plethora of conceptual images and concepts (shown above is Laminae's inspiration wall), these artists were never afraid to question their choices and examine the process with sharp-yet-eloquent critique.  Strong opinions fueled with passion still managed to craft a conversation in which each member had a voice.  How do the ideas of many connect in a meaningful way and take inspiration into creation? Laminae exudes a professionalism and sincerity which will answer this question with great impact. 

Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration

From Laminae:

Origins ----------------------------------------->

Sometimes beginnings are clear like when we are born or the first day of a new job. It's marks a distinct reference point for a "beginning."  When our artist collective, Laminae began on this journey there was a clear starting point. 

4 women applied to a show and were randomly put together to create a piece of art based on the concept, "origins and endings". Simple. Straightforward start.

Although, most beginnings are unclear as they emerge out of the chaos of an ending.

In that case, the ending becomes reference point for the beginning.

The ending creates the context for creating.

 Yet, when a beginning is just a beginning without emerging from an ending

------------------------------------------>Where do we begin?

Laminae, to laminate, to fuse us into a collective,

We experiment through a series of "get to know you" exercises.

Each showing work, speaking in conversations of binding and framing ourselves together for a piece.

We iron our wrinkles. Pucker our lips. Erin does back-flips.

We dance around our beginning. Some speak through the computer, some in person.

Straddling, time, space, and making through our virtual studio.

Visual artists aren't the best talkers. We like to make.

Making together is hard sometimes because it requires talking.

Where do we begin?  

[creativerights-blog]

Three weeks away.

Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration

May 11, 2013 Jam Handy 2900 Grand Blvd. Detroit, MI 48202

8pm $15

[creativerights-blog]

Origins & Endings: Meet the participating artists

Ruth Bardenstein (left), Marisa Dluge (center), Sunny Smith (right) are Moveable Text

Gnostic gospels, Nag Hammadi, crowd sourcing, collective memory, creation of self.  Their energy darts across the table as quickly as their inspirations.  We sat down with Moveable Text in Ypsilanti to catch up about concepts and progress.  We were wrapped up in the story and their connection to each other was equally as intoxicating. Moveable Text is approaching this creative process by highlighting the individual strengths of the members. Ruth has been meticulously creating authentic replicas of Nag Hammadi, Marisa has taken an ethnographic approach to generate crowd sourced material for the performance, and Sunny has been painting depictions of creation and the source thereof.

We realize there is no exact formula for successful collaborations, however, we did leave the ladies of Moveable text with a challenge: How can the members push themselves out of their comfort zones? What happens when we hear the voice of the painter and put a paintbrush in the hand of an actor?

We are eager to see how all of this comes together on May 11th. 

Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration

Moveable Text

The space between two edges.

The realization that everything you assumed up to this point was wrong.

[creativerights-blog]

In the rare grassland ecoystems of America, an unlikely duo stalks the prairie dog towns. North American badgers (Taxidea taxus) work with coyotes (Canis latrans) to hunt rodents who nestle below ground in a complex system of burrows that makes them tricky prey to hunt.  Driven by a stressful physical environment and complementary predatory strategies, this carnivorous team creates a formidable hunting presence. Coyotes chase the rodents above ground until they scamper into their burrows, at which point badgers claw their way through and end the chase. Meanwhile, a badger’s failure to catch its prey below ground benefits the swift coyote, who thrives in the expansive plains.  Together they become an efficient hunting pair with more gain than if they had attempted to hunt solo.

  Intra- and inter- species partnerships are everywhere. 

  Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration explores what happens when human strangers (Homo sapiens) form collectives and produce new works of art.  

  Saturday // May 11, 2013 // 8PM – 12AM

The Jam Handy Building // 2900 E. Grand Blvd., Detroit, MI 48202

[creativerights-blog]

Origins & Endings: Meet the participating artists

Anna Schaap (left), Emily Roll (center), and Audrey Stanton (right) are LOT49.

Although a random drawing in February placed these haunting ladies together- we are certain that it was destiny.  Sitting down to discuss their progress and hear about LOT49's conceptual plans, we could sense a strong connection between them and it felt like they had been working together for quite some time.  Dark, deliberate, and honest LOT49 prepares to explore "different stratified phases of the industrial complex of art."

"There must be a starting point and an ending point, and the process is the work which would enable one to move from the former to the latter.  This became the setup for the ‘industrial complex’ of creating artists... Moving from phase to phase, you start with the development of technique and exploration of knowledge."

Read the full story here at LOT49's project blog

[creativerights-blog]

#artxdetroit opening night at #mocad. A #scotthocking instillation that will make you trip. #detroit

[creativerights-blog]

CIRCUS, Will this be Gallery Project's last hurrah? 

Gallery Project presents Circus, a multimedia exhibit in which 25 local, regional, national, and international artists explore the changing nature of the circus in American culture.  Curated by Origins & Endings participant, Erin Garber-Pearson, this exhibit will be on display until May 5th. 

Hours: Thursday-Saturday, noon-9; Sunday, noon-6pm.

The gallery is closed Monday-Wednesday.

   For more information, contact us at 734-997-7012 orgalleryproject@gmail.com, or through our website: www.thegalleryproject.com.

CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE:

Melissa Avery, Rachel Beckman, Thom Bohnert, Seder Burns, Sue Coe, C. Ryder Cooley, Sara DiDonato, John Dinser, Erin Garber-Pearson, Timothy Gaewsky, Dellas Henke, Herring & Herring, Lou Krueger, Heidi Jensen, Pamela Joseph, Joe Levickas, Jamiyla Lowe, Seamus Liam O'Brien, Tom Linder, Robert Sites, Silvia B, Spilt Sugar Photography, Ryan Standfest, and Brett Day Windham

Founded in April 2005, Gallery Project is a fine art collaborative directed by Rocco DePietro and Gloria Pritschet.  Its mission is to provide a venue for contemporary art that is culturally aware, individualistic, courageous, and thought provoking.  Gallery Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.  It is located at 215 South Fourth Avenue in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

[creativerights-blog]

Design by Seth Weiner

Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration

May 11, 2013    •••••••    Detroit, MI

[creativerights-blog]

Location, location, location...

Earlier this year we selected thirteen artists to participate in our latest project, Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration. The event will kick-off CR's annual fundraising effort and will showcase the work of an incredibly diverse group of creatives. By luck of the draw we placed the participants into four collectives and commissioned them to create a visual installation and a corresponding performance piece.  I have had the pleasure of connecting with each of these collectives recently and I am thrilled with their concepts and progress  -  more on who these artists are and what they have been up to soon!

lo•ca•tion // noun

A particular place or position.

An actual place or natural setting in which a film or broadcast is made, as distinct from a simulation in a studio.

JAM HANDY: A perfect combination of Detroit history and creative energy.

We are excited to announce the Jam Handy as our venue for Origins & Endings.  Once a film production studio, this massive building plays host to many arts and culture events in Detroit including, Detroit Soup and productions from new CR client The Hinterlands.  The building is named after Henry Jamison 'Jam' Handy, 1904 Olympic Medalist, filmmaker, and prankster (his wiki reveals a spicy disruption during his time as an undergrad at The U of M).  One of his better known films created at the studio, Detroit: City on The Move (1965), was a promotional film made for the City of Detroit, an unsuccessful bidder for the Olympic Games. With views of city highways, automobile manufacturing, a diverse population, and social activities, all shot prior to the city's economic decline.

Now owned and operated by Simeon Heyer, Jam Handy presents Detroit with another deconstructed playground for the arts.  We look forward to opening the doors to you this May.

Jam Handy hard at work.

[creativerights-blog]

The Premiere of Brendalinda Performance Collaborative's "Do You Ever Wish You Were Better at Things?"

Written by Amber Hughson

I fought wind and cold tonight to arrive at the difficult door of LePop Gallery on 101 N. Main Street in Ann Arbor, MI (make sure you pull extra hard, don’t worry, we all looked like fools when we did it too). What I met behind that door was an astonishingly human experience in “Do You Ever Wish…” a performance art show and gallery by Brian Carbine’s Brendalinda Performance Collaborative. It was certainly worth the January wind. This performance will remind you, among so many other things, that you are not alone.

The space, occupied by Charlie LaCroix Art Brokerage, has been transformed with a small stage, a bedroom, and a series of photographs of people you may have met before, holding plain white signs stating what they wish they could be better at. You too will have the chance to create a sign, conveying your wish, and be photographed. As is the modus operandi of Brendalinda, the show takes place all around you, it shifts as you shift, it appears right beside you, and it reminds you that art is not inaccessible. 

When the performance begins, it is at once abrupt and graceful. The cast presents a series of physical manifestations of our insecurities and hopes with dance, monologue, and skits. The performers and their shadows draw attention to identity, mistakes, and the questions that we are haunted with, like “Have you ever created anything of substance?”

Marisa Dluge’s performance of a monologue written by her co-cast member Luna Alexander, will make you fidget with the hauntingly accurate specificity of not-quite-making-the-cut. When she delivered the line, “I bet there’s no part of her body that you could describe as puffy,” I squirmed and choked down laughter all at once. Dluge is alarmingly good at portraying a unique character with the ability to speak to each of our anxieties.

Grocery store sounds will click as Brian Carbine and Karila Forshee portray one experience that we have all dreaded at least once in our lives. As Jesse Arehart-Jacobs moves their bodies like mannequins you will wonder, There’s no way they could know that same thing happened to me, right?  

The performers will make conversations you’ve had over and over again feel like falling from the top bunk and landing on hardwood – they will hit you right where you thought you were sleeping. Forshee in particular will plant an apricot pit in your esophagus – the universal sign that tears are on their way. Emily Roll will make her fellow artists grip firm fists at their sides as she tap dances.

Alexander and Roll will convey interpersonal thirst and effort without need for words – all exerted energy, harsh breaths, and skin on skin, their shadows will remind you how it feels to be swimming against a tide. Alexander, a personal favorite artist of mine, will deliver heartsick that brings slam poetry and A Capella and dance together.

While undoubtedly wondering at times what the creators were thinking, you will feel your own ripe set of emotions that are unwillingly rattled from you. Their movements, mastery of sound, intentional selection of words and lack of words, the setting – all will compel you to feel. You will leave your comfort zone when you enter this show – but at the same time you will find the greatest comfort any artist can give you: that you are not alone and your experiences and insecurities are shared with those around you. By putting this cast, space, and writing together, Director Brian Carbine has, yet again, brought us beauty in honesty that is refreshing, terrifying, and extraordinary to be a part of.

See this show. I’ll be going back tomorrow night. And make sure you stay through to the end.   

 ---

 The show continues each Friday and Saturday now through February 2nd, 2013 with the doors opening at 8:30PM and the show beginning at 9PM. RSVP on Facebook Here.

[creativerights-blog]

Follow "Do You Ever Wish" on Tumblr & submit what you wish you were better at by e-mailing a picture of yourself holding up a piece of paper to brianrogercarbine@gmail.com