I (heart) interactive art. The kind of art that can sense your proximity and shifts or shivers in response to it. Art that reveals itself at times and in ways you least expect. Art that beckons from a street corner. Art that makes you step back and check out its bad self, mmhmm. Portland, OR-based artists Ariel Brice and Jeannine Shinoda create art that demands a double take, and they are heading up I-5 North to prove it. Their mission: “We believe that the opportunity provided by Artscapes and Spaceworks Tacoma will enable us to create a contextual installation on a site rich with potential….Using Tacoma and the Northwest as inspiration for our urban intervention will engage us as artists and the Tacoma public as viewers to our artistic visions.”
When we recently checked in, Shinoda would elaborate on their upcoming installation at 950 Pacific Avenue – but not too much. The artists are considering an interactive work that employs either, 1) peepholes – window portals at multiple heights that toy with people’s perceptions, and expectations of, what they will see inside, or 2) motion sensors – motion-activated lighting that creates “an interactive dialogue with the motion of the street.”
Ari Brice received his Master of Fine Arts degree in Ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art; he is a curator, and an artist “whose sculptural installations [deal] with perceptions and controlled viewing.” Shinoda is a visual artist with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Carnegie Mellon University. Together, they have collaborated in two artist residencies over the past year in the Netherlands and in China. You can engage with their work from July 15 to October 31 in the big windows at 950 Pacific Avenue: “For Artscapes, we visualize a kinetic and interactive experience to enliven the Tacoma streetscape.” For more information: www.aribrice.com.
Tacoma is full of local artists who would love an opportunity to do a spaceworks installation. Why is this made available to out of state artists? It can’t get more local than empty store fronts in our own home town. Oh the dramatic irony posting images from an installation that says “shop local”.
Dear Eric,
Thanks for your comment. Over 50% of the artists who have exhibited as part of spaceworks are and have been Tacoma artists and the opportunity to apply is always open however, it is a juried process, so it is competitive and the fact that our artists stand up to those competing regionally is a great testament to our local talent.
We see Spaceworks as part of a regional system and we maintain a regionally local call open to artists in Washington and Oregon. Because just as we have opportunities for outside artists to exhibit in Tacoma, they have opportunities for our artists to show their work elsewhere. If everyone only exhibited their own artists, the opportunities to make a living and be seen by a larger audience would be closed to our artists.