Exhibition: Art Park 21 Finalist Proposals.
Date: March 3rd – April 22nd, 2018.
Location: Open Space Visitor Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Art Park 21 Website
Our Memories Proposal Rendering
A 21st Century Art Park
The AP21 team is in the process of establishing a 21st-century art park in the Albuquerque – Santa Fe corridor. A key element in the groundwork for establishing this park will be a temporary exhibit of multiple outdoor installations that fit the theme of the park. The park will feature eco-centric installations that take 21st-century views of what could be possible in an art park, and of our relationship with our environment. Installations that are the product of collaboration between one or more artists/artisans and an engineer/scientist/researcher/technician will be welcome, as would artworks that make use of new knowledge, materials, techniques or technology and place a value on a sustainability. Potential themes and scopes of artworks could include those that incorporate atmospheric elements such as wind, rain, sunlight, humidity; artworks that incorporate plant life, recycled or repurposed elements; artworks that generate electricity; interactive artworks; artworks that explore the interface between three-dimensional art and architecture.
The Open Space Visitor Center in Albuquerque has invited the Art Park 21 team to exhibit drawings and renderings of proposed temporary art installations consistent with the theme of the envisioned art park. Through a call to artists which was juried by Nancy Zastudil, we have a body of fourteen proposals by twelve artists which will be on display at the center March 3 through April 22, 2018. Opening reception is March 3, 2-4 pm. All of the concept proposals that are included in the exhibit will be published in a catalog to accompany the exhibit and on the ArtPark21.org site. Proposals that are approved by the Open Space Advisory Board will be eligible to be realized on the grounds of the center in 2019.
Our Memories at Art Park 21
Our Memories at Art Park 21 manifests as an audience participatory outdoor installation of translucent, neuron-inspired sculptures that contain cavities for participants to place color-coded “memory” stones.
The acrylic memory stones are classified into six primary emotions: joy, anger, love, sadness, fear, and surprise. Contributors transform the sculptures by recalling a powerful memory and then depositing its representative stone in a sculpture. The sculptures will take on the colors of the collective “memories” and transform as the piece comes to life and stores more memories. This action is intended to visually incite participants to consider the concept of the interior self, particularly how our experiences and memories are encoded and stored. This active act of recollection not only stirs up personal memories, it also physiologically generates a new “collective memory”. The work is both a collective memorial, made complete by hundreds of individual memories, and an experience that connects participants to their present moment and to one another. The larger vision is to add new and distinct memory sculptures with each installation, ultimately collecting emotions and memories from people all over the world.
Our Memories and Art Park 21 are both committed to innovative community building that connects people to their surrounding environment and to one another, and it is my belief that this collaborative memory making experience will leave a lasting impression on park visitors.