Interactive art that tells -- and changes -- its story
Traditional art forms aim to direct the experience of the audience. Interactive media, on the other hand, utilizes the viewer’s experience as a component of the piece. Brian DeLevie, assistant professor of visual arts, is taking interactive media one step farther—by putting the viewer in the driver’s seat.
DeLevie will work as part of a team including Assistant Professor Bryan Leister, UC-Boulder faculty Jay Gloucester and video artist Isshaela Ingham to create an urban installment piece. Funded in part by a faculty development grant, the interactive audio/video piece will explore the effects of changing urban spaces on memory and experience by merging real-time content collected within the urban environment.
The team will ask local participants to answer questions regarding their memories and hopes for the future of the place in which they live. Through the use of Geographic Positioning System (GPS) technology, their movements within that geographical area will be recorded. The data will then be used to construct a video and audio “canvas” illustrating patterns of participants’ memory and experience within place.
DeLevie says that “this form of interaction can play a pivotal role in creating an interactive work that is defined by the creation and reception of history, culture and the memory of a place in which the work itself resides.” By exploring innovative media and technology, DeLevie hopes to encourage the university community to develop new ways of understanding and practicing art.
Preventive medicine for the musician
Preventative medicine is most commonly associated with sport and fitness. Thanks to new research, though, health education and injury prevention strategies are being adapted to a different kind of athlete—the musician.
There are an alarming amount of musicians and music educators who suffer from performance related, cumulative trauma syndromes (CTS/RTS). Although these serious afflictions are easily preventable, techniques to do so are absent from most music curriculum.
Sean C. McGowan, assistant professor of Music and Entertainment Industry Studies, is learning how to integrate health into music education. With the help of a faculty development grant, McGowan is attending a selection of symposiums, conferences and private lessons to enhance his knowledge of performing arts medicine in order to share it with others.
“Students and faculty need to build overall kinesthetic awareness and embrace the concept of ‘musician as athlete,’” McGowan says. “I view this training as empowering my students with knowledge that will in turn inform and impact their professional and educational careers.”
A CD calling card
In higher education, researchers must have their work published in a respected journal before anyone will take notice. Music educators, on the other hand, display their research in a different way—by recording and producing compact discs.
“The CD has become, in a sense, the new calling card for musicians and music professors,” says Paul Musso, assistant professor and director of the guitar program at UC Denver. Although Musso has compiled live recordings of his concerts over the years, he has not yet released his own CD.
Musso hopes to showcase his skills as a writer and performer in his first recording as a solo artist—Tonescapes. He has already recorded a number of original compositions for the project, including an array of Brazilian, African, Afro-Cuban and jazz-influenced guitar pieces. With the help of a faculty development grant, Musso will be able to finish the post- production and pressing of the CD.
A freelance guitarist with experience performing in many diverse musical settings throughout Colorado, Musso believes the project will secure more opportunities to play at colleges and festivals.
“In the world of music educators,” says Musso, “a good CD is as essential as a good vita.”