The ASU Art Museum is offering a free two-day celebration Sept. 28-29 to kick off their opening season by offering with new exhibitions and installations. (Photo by Shelby Bernstein)The ASU Art Museum at Mill Avenue and 10th Street is celebrating their opening season with two days of festivities on Sept. 28 and 29.
The celebration, which is free and open to the public, begins with a member preview from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., followed by the free public event each night starting at 6:30 p.m. and concluding at 9 p.m., said ASU Art Museum spokeswoman Deborah Sussman Susser in an email.
“Friday and Saturday are the opening receptions for ‘Trajectory,’ an exhibition by artist-in-residence Miguel Palma and for ‘Ant Farm Media Van, v.08,’ by Chip Lord, Curtis Schreier and Bruce Tomb,” Sussman Susser said.
“Trajectory” and the “Ant Farm Media Van” are both vehicle exhibits. “Trajectory” is a remote desert vehicle and the “Ant Farm Media Van” is a repurposed 1972 Chevy that features a media “HUQQUH.”
The “HUQQUH” serves as a digital time capsule of random music and images that are donated by the public by plugging in a personal digital device such as a smartphone or MP3 player. The captured images will then be sealed up in the van and will be accessed again in 2030.
Composer, pianist and electronic musician Wayne Horvitz will be performing his piece “55: Music and Dance in Concrete” at 7:30 p.m. both nights at the Nymphaeum, the indoor-outdoor performance space located outside of the museum’s entrance. “55: Music and Dance in Concrete” is a project that uses acoustics and visuals unique to a site.
The electronic score for the project includes 55 composed short motifs for chamber music, 55 improvised pieces recorded in bunkers and a cistern on a former military base.
Movement Connections, a network of performers who practice parkour, acrobatics and breakdance, will perform both nights using the museum building as a stage.
Francesco Caban, a solo artist and founder of Movement Connections, began practicing parkour while attending ASU.
“At midnight, my friends and I would play capture the flag and we would run, jump and climb in order to have the advantage in the game,” Caban said.
Caban found a video clip online of a man doing acrobatics between buildings, over fences and on the ground.
“It sparked my interest,” he said. “I looked into the art form and I fell in love with it.”
ASU Art Museum Director Gordon Knox said the museum specifically looks for projects that integrate and draw from research done by University departments.
Knox said the curatorial process aims to provide an interesting combination of artists in order to communicate an idea or explore an understanding.
“In this case, we are animating the architecture of the building with the performances and exploring technology and networking through Ant Farm and with the Miguel Palma piece,” he said.
A wide array of projects for the ASU Art Museum will be featured over the next few years, including the Desert Initiative, additional artist residencies and exhibitions.
Reach the reporter at amy.edelen@asu.edu
