Video submissions for the 2008 All Student Exhibition, now playing at University of Michigan School of Art & Design galleries.

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In conjunction with WORK • Ann Arbor , PLAY presents Elbow Grease, a show exploring the multiple ways that service, labor and industry are interpreted through the arts. The exhibit runs until November 7th, 2008.

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PLAY is seeking video work for Edibles, the first show on next year’s exhibit schedule at the School of Art & Design, which will explore the intersections between food and art. For more info, click HERE.
So, we thought we’d see what was cooking on YouTube on this subject. We found an orchestra whose primary instruments are vegetables, a Thai artist who bakes bread in the shape of body parts, and a beautifully rendered movie about the relationship between the Chocolate Easter Bunny and… heat. Bon Appetit!

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Seth Welton used his Senior Integrative Project to further develop his skills as an auteur. His genre?  Excessively violent, exquisitely photographed stop-motion animations about cold-blooded rabbits and bears. This is Disney meets The Godfather, viewer beware. This film is almost 30 minutes, here broken up into parts.

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Festival-goers stopped by the Insta-Animato-Rama PLAYstation during the 2008 Ann Arbor Film Festival to create a stop-motion animation and add their creative voice to an ever-growing loop playing in the lobby. Almost 30 minutes of animations came out.
Here they are, uncut, in order of appearance.

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15 MFA candidates from the University of Michigan, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Eastern Michigan University, and Wayne State University were asked to discuss the evolution of each individual’ s work from undergraduate experiences, to post-graduate experiences, to current work from graduate school as part of an exhibition showing at WORK : DETROIT. Here are some selections from the interviews for PATHWAYS: Consistency and Change.

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In conjunction with the “Aging With Attitude” exhibit at the School of Art & Design, PLAY presents “An Evening with Tony Amore,” by Andy Kirshner.

Originally performed live at the Michigan Theatre, the show is loosely based on the life and myth of Frank Sinatra. Kirshner performs his own original compositions, complete with a full orchestra, riffing on the Rat Pack era & its crooners, as they pass their prime and enter into the reality of aging.

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Seattle-based artist Trimpin recently set up fort in Slusser Lounge at the U-M School of Art & Design for a 3 week residency at the School. This sound sculptor & maverick genius brought along some of his homemade musical ‘instruments’: a Liquid Percussion device that drips water in rhythmically precise drum patterns, a Fire Organ, a cello hooked up with infrared sensors & two record players, plus a midi-controlled player piano.

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This past fall, Peter Sparling danced his way from Paris to Aix, following the footsteps of his favorite painter, Cezanne. Instead of a sketchbook, he took a video camera & created these miniature dance studies, responding to the sights and sounds around him.

Some of these “postcards” will appear as part of a full-evening dance/theater work, “Climbing Sainte-Victoire”, to be premiered by Peter Sparling Dance Company in Ann Arbor, MI, September, 2008.

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24 artists were asked the question: “Why do you do what you do?” for an exhibit now showing at WORK : DETROIT. Excerpts from the show are running as part of a PLAY Series on Michigan Television and the Michigan Channel. THE WHY SHOW runs until January 26th, 2008.

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Selections from the University of Michigan’s School of Art & Design 2007 All Student Exhibit.

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GREEN is a color of contradictions, signifying everything from wealth to sickness, as well as our current environmental movement. It has been called the unluckiest color in the spectrum, yet it is also a symbol of hope & renewal.

In conjunction with WORK at the University of Michigan’s School of Art & Design in Ann Arbor, PLAY invited artists to explore the many manifestations of green. From embryos to armies, here are selections from the submissions.

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In his life as a scientist & radiologist, Brad Smith is the creator of an innovative visualization system used to study cardiovascular development via Magnetic Resonance Microscopy.  In his life as an artist, Brad Smith uses this same technology to create animated portraits, totems & sketches, revealing the invisible structures and shapes within living things.  Once such living thing: the snail….

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The Collaborators’ Corner is a match-making tool for visual artists and sound designers interested in collaborating. If you have a video seeking sound, or if you are a sound artist looking for collaborators, read on.

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Nicole Marroquin documented last year’s nail-biting competition in the A&D Senior Studios. The goal: to make the most innovative edible work of art, with a total budget of $13.74.

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Culled from the cultural pea soup that is YouTube, here are some riffs on the color green in anticipation of The Green Show, coming soon to the PLAY & WORK Galleries.

1) U.K. singer, Cibelle, shares a rendition of the Tom Waits song ‘Green Grass’, lovingly drawn in rotoscope video.
2) Using archival footage, a music video points the finger at the beginnings of American toxicity, while the lyrics explore Green Power–ie. Money.
3) Video artist Brian Bress in the ultimate recycling video, declares: “it doesn’t always have to be bamboo!”

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Malcolm Tulip teaches physical theatre and clowning in the University of Michigan’s Theatre Department. Here Malcolm created a set of experiments exploring the creative potential of a single set and a few props. The rules of the improvisations were: 1) each scene’s length was determined by a musical track and 2) would somehow address the banal activities from waking to sleeping.

The inspiration: Beckett Shorts.

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Poet Anne Carson proves that even the lowly subject of pronouns can be delicious. Asked to give a lecture on pronouns at Harvard, Carson defied the traditional lecture form by bringing in some collaborators: sound artist Stephanie Rowden, three dancers from the Merce Cunningham Dance Company & video artist Sadie Wilcox. The result was a 25 minute performance called Possessive Used As Drink (Me): a lecture in the form of 15 sonnets.

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Seniors at the School of Art & Design spend a year conceiving and executing one project of their own design. Those working in time-based arts had their pieces shown at the Michigan Theater last week.

Here are some of the highlights:

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If you’re a first time visitor, allow us to introduce you to some of our favorites:

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Caryn, a New York housewife, decides to leave the house and get a job. This is her web diary.

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Feature on poet & professor, Thylias Moss and her quest to make poetry visible.

Thylias Moss had a revelation one night which utterly transformed the way she viewed poetry. She was eating popcorn. She can’t even remember the name of the movie that night at the Quality 16. But something about the way the credits rolled through the screen before her, startled her out of the page.

Everything was poetry. There was poetry in everyday life.

Place Value, the series, is Moss’s attempt to expose and understand the possibilities of what she calls the dynamic page.

Moss is a professor of English at the University of Michigan.

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Performance artist Holly Hughes & collaborators uncover the history of gender & sexuality on the campus of the University of Michigan.

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Ham?” was created by U-M Art & Design professor Holly Hughes in collaboration with Bryan Heyboer, Jim Leija, Erin Markey, Cynthia Pachikara, Johanna Schuster-Craig, and a group of student collaborators from Art & Design and LSA.

This performance celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the U-M Institute for Research on Women and Gender. The show explores the history of feminism at the University of Michigan and in Ann Arbor…with a healthy dose of irreverence and humor!

Shot at the Duderstadt Video Studio. Editing & Post-Production by Angela Veomett.

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All of the motion graphics for PLAY TV are designed by UM School of Art & Design undergraduates, including 30 second promos, title graphics and animated logos. Currently, A&D Senior, Jeff Christy is the head animator on the PLAY Team.

To read more about PLAY Design, visit our Logo page.

Here’s a sampling from the LOGO design library.

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In conjunction with an exhibit at Work Gallery, artists were invited to explore themes of identity as well as issues such as national ID cards, affirmative action, identity theft, RFID, privacy, immigration and the census.

Here are some of the selected video submissions to the PLAY Gallery. More to come, stay tuned.

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A&D Assistant Professor Andy Kirshner, composer and performance artist, took us up on the challenge of creating something specifically for the PLAY broadcast space: the intersitial time between regular programming on PBS. The result was a series of five videos meant to air consecutively but not necessarily in order.

These videos are based on stories told by his Grandfather, Edward D. Bierer.

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