Going
mobile
By Doug Norris/Features Editor
It’s the last stop for the first wave of the Mobile
Art Project. A 16-foot Penske moving truck is
wedged into an upper corner of the crowded Peace
Dale Library parking lot. The back of the truck
is open, with steps leading up to a mostly empty
dark box inside. In the surrounding glare of harsh
August sunlight, sound coming from the truck’s
shadow plays seemingly random noises of sloshing,
gurgling water, along with ambient and underwater
audio that conveys vivid images to the mind’s
eye.
A
sign on the outside of the truck reads: “Welcome.
Please come inside for an art experience.”
But
even here, next to a place filled with books
that spark the imagination, many library visitors
skirt the edge of the strange vehicle, trying
to avoid getting sucked into its black hole.
To the Mobile Art Project organizers, this part
of the process has been an eye-opener.
“Overall,
I think it has been very successful,”
said Viera Levitt of Wakefield – who coordinated
the project in conjunction with Hera Gallery
– as she pointed to thick stacks of public
responses on clipboards, most of which described
their “art experience” in favorable
terms. “But some people just don’t
want to be challenged. It’s not about
art. It’s about a basic level of curiosity.”
Emanating
from speakers inside the truck, an osprey cries.
A foghorn blows. A gondolier chants. Marvin
Gaye sings. Most of the sounds are familiar.
Others need explanation. A strange sequence
of clicking turns out to be a kind of shrimp
language. Who knew shrimp did percussion?
The
audio sequence is a 9-minute loop, titled “Aqua
Alta” and created by Warwick artist China
Blue, who recorded around and under the waters
of Narragansett Bay and the Providence canals
with special seismic microphones and hydrophone
arrays. Chosen as the first artist to represent
the Mobile Art Project, Blue designed the installation
as a way to bring attention to global warming.
In an artist’s statement, she said her
piece “echoes the ebb and flow of water
on our planet. The same water that washes the
canals of Venice, breaks at the feet of the
Statue of Liberty, and runs through the canals
of Providence. It rises up and it rains down.”
From
Aug. 14-18, the Mobile Art Project truck parked
at a variety of locations in South County and
Providence. It appeared at the Kingston Train
Station, the Towers in Narragansett, the parking
lot outside Belmont Market in Wakefield, the
Courthouse Center for the Arts in West Kingston,
the South Kingstown Center for Senior Services
in Peace Dale and on Empire Street in Providence
as part of the 2009 FOO Fest, among other locations.
In every place, the audience was different.
Many
people who took the plunge were impressed with
the installation. In one of the surveys, a patron
wrote: “We used to see art every day in
the architecture around us. Now we mostly see
block buildings with no character. We need creativity
as a daily event we can all share.”
Another
added: “Not your average Belmont parking
lot experience.”
“At
some places people had a single-minded focus,”
said Hera Gallery member Alexandra Broches of
Wakefield. “They were just there to shop
or go to the beach or catch the train. But almost
everyone who spent some time in the truck told
us that they enjoyed themselves. They found
it interesting, unusual and even peaceful.”
The
truck, fitted with temporary benches, speakers
and blue foil on the roof – suggesting
a watery immersion – subverts the traditional
gallery visit, since in this case the patron
inside becomes part of the art, on stage as
passersby look on and decide whether they want
to get closer to the sound. “I love how
you can sit here facing the audience and be
in a completely different world,” wrote
one visitor. “No one is aware that there’s
art going on right here. Very neat.”
Levitt
said that teachers, in particular, seemed inspired
by the project. Several requested that the truck
visit their school. The Mobile Art Project,
funded in part by the R.I. State Council on
the Arts and the Puffin Foundation of New Jersey,
will return with “Aqua Alta” in
October. Potential stops include The Prout School,
Wakefield Elementary School, the Community College
of Rhode Island Knight Campus in Warwick and
the University of Rhode Island’s Narragansett
Bay Campus.
“The
idea is to bring this to places where people
don’t normally expect to see art,”
Levitt said. “Some people can’t
travel to see art, and some people won’t.
But we can bring it to them and see what happens.”
For
more information about the Mobile Art Project,
including future appearances, log on to http://vieralevitt.org/mobileartproject.htm.
