CMU School of Drama


Thursday, March 17, 2016

Interactive art exhibit to open Friday at Market Square

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: When Allard van Hoorn saw an international request for a public art project in Pittsburgh several years ago, he went online to search for images of a city he knew little about.

He clicked on a satellite view and found the specific site for the project — Market Square.

“It looked like a giant record player,” the 48-year-old Dutch artist told a gathering at a Tuesday news conference Downtown. “That’s how I got the idea.”

2 comments:

Natalia Kian said...

I think the aboriginal inspiration of making music that is "carved" out of a culture and a community is the real gem of this installation, and that what Van Hoorn is attempting to do is very similar to what we freshman DPs are currently attempting through Arcade. The interactivity of the installation as well as the way in which it appeals and relates to many but creates an experience unique to each person who crosses its path is so indicative of what each of our groups is trying to do with our three-minute experience, and I think we can learn from what the article says of "carving." Instead of music, we are working to create a theatrical experience which is carved out of a bigger idea but nonetheless palpable and substantial, and which attempts to make concrete an idea which is really just a story being told inside a box. I love this rhetoric of "carving" rather than simply "making," because I think it speaks to how deeply we as designers and artists must dig into the physical world around us in order to create something which starts in such a hypothetical place. What Van Hoorn does to draw out a culture from its sound we do to draw out a world from a story. I think our class' projects can benefit immensely by our awareness of this idea.

Vanessa Ramon said...

This art instillation sounds really cool to me because the artist, Allard Van Hoorn, took the inspirations he found within Pittsburgh and created art with them. Although he is not originally from Pittsburgh Van Hoorn seems to have done a lot of research in order to pick the sounds that would premier in his art piece. I like that he not only used common musical sounds like tap dancing and drumming, but also things like brushing brooms. The article mentions that he also took inspiration from the architecture. I would like to know more about how exactly he does this. I wish the article would have talked more about the fact that this instillation is suppose to be used all year and how it can be. In general, This article didn't have much to say about the details of this art instillation, I mean, I understand that it looks a giant stylus, but how exactly does it work? another picture could have been helpful to help the readers understand such a unique and original art instillation. Overall, I think it is really cool that this city understands art as a way to bring the community together in the most unique ways.