Northern Spark 2014 - Update #8

Balancing Ground Shares Wisdom in Whispered Voices

Balance is rest
Balance is accomplishment
Balance is a point of departure
Balance is equality between knowing why and knowing how
-Artist Bill Cottman, in an interview with Project Lead Amanda Lovelee for Balancing Ground, 2014.

These words from Bill Cottman (whose project beyond the LOOP will also premier at Northern Spark) and many others speaking about balance will be part of the gently-immersive auditory experience of Balancing Ground, winner of the 2014 Creative City Challenge.

Balancing Ground will be unveiled on June 14 as part of the Opening Ceremony for Northern Spark. The installation's prismatic light and sound elements create a space for contemplating balance, that state of equilibrium that eludes so many of us caught up in the "culture of busy."

The project's large, open structure, suggestive of both a forest and a church, will hold a set of specially-developed seesaws and reclaimed wood benches.  Words and phrases related to balance are triggered as participants play with the physical act of finding balance on the seesaws, while specialized directional speakers play longer fragments of conversations and interviews about balance in tight, narrow beams of sound that can be heard only in specific areas. Balancing Ground is presented by the Minneapolis Convention Center and the Arts, Culture and Creative Economy Program of the City of Minneapolis in collaboration with Northern Lights.mn.

American Craft Council Pays Homage to Kubler and Considers Art and Craft

The American Craft Council celebrates the connection between the makers, the materials, and the enthusiasts whose lives are enriched by unique, handmade works of art. This year ACC is presenting a participatory textile work by Chicago-based artist Andy Hall at Northern Spark.

In Outdoor Activity for George Kubler, Hall invites participants to dye silk fabric with him as he playfully examines Kubler’s notion of useful inventions vs. artistic inventions using the ubiquitous form of the plastic shopping bag.

Over the duration of Northern Spark a large bolt of raw Habotai Silk will be transformed into an array of vibrantly colored painted textiles. The textiles will be steam set, sewn into a series of iconic tote bags, and strung up above the site for display and dispersal.

Hall will collaborate with festival participants to apply dye to the silk using methods that stimulate an awareness of bodily possibility, the physical nature of the materials, the temporal dimensions of process, and the perception of the maker. The assembly line-like installation, beginning with raw material and dispensing vividly colored silk totes, help asks questions about process, material quality, and product.