{"id":1742,"date":"2016-09-27T17:59:06","date_gmt":"2016-09-27T17:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/arts-culture\/mtg-installations-recap\/"},"modified":"2016-09-27T17:59:06","modified_gmt":"2016-09-27T17:59:06","slug":"mtg-installations-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/art\/mtg-installations-recap","title":{"rendered":"How These Five Artists Brought People Together at Music Tastes Good in Long Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Photos by Asia Morris.<\/em><\/p>\n

As stellar as the lineup was for Music Tastes Good, you have to give the artists whose installations made exploring the grounds that much more entertaining a few kudos. Hours were spent before the festival brainstorming, designing, planning<\/a> and finally building what were five interactive, free-standing art pieces that festival goers seemed to love. Read on to find out more about each one.<\/p>\n

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RELATED<\/small> <\/p>\n

Five Artists’ Installations Selected for Music Tastes Good Festival<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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Rumination Attuning<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rumination Attuning<\/em>, Danielle Kaufman\u2019s installation was inspired by her visit to a Buddhist temple, where she experienced bells meant to be rung to \u201cbring awareness to reality through the senses,\u201d was a multi-layered piece that resonated strongly with festival goers.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe core of Rumination Attuning<\/em> was a survey that asked Long Beach residents to open up and anonymously share some of their deepest thoughts, feelings, ruminations,\u201d said Kaufman. \u201cI received over 100 submissions of painful self criticisms, mantras, secrets, wishes and encouragement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anonymous submissions ranged from the light hearted, such as \u201cI will never be old,\u201d to the more serious, \u201cI am caught in torturous self abuse, I know better but my addiction has the best of me,\u201d and were written on hanging wooden blocks with bells attached to them.<\/p>\n

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Attendees were encouraged to ring the bell in acknowledgement of sharing a connection with a particular rumination.<\/p>\n

“I thought about how at the core of connection is expression, and a resonance of similar expressions,\u201d said Kaufman, whose installation also focuses on building community. \u201cWhen we have shallow conversations, we can connect with people on shallow levels; which makes acquaintances. When we share from deeper places in ourselves, we create opportunities to make deeper connections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parasolvent<\/strong><\/p>\n

Parasolvent, artist Dan Benedict\u2019s installation originally built for Burning Man, was located right next to the Main Stage. It was an eye-catching wheel of parasols that could be rotated by festival goers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like seeing it in this setting, this urban setting, that should be interesting,\u201d Benedict told the Post as he was building the piece on Thursday. \u201cAt Burning Man you\u2019re expected to play with stuff, and people might not realize that here, but I think once they see people using it it\u2019ll show them they can. So I\u2019m really interested to see how it goes [at Music Tastes Good].\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a three-dimensional representation of what the artist said it felt like to be at Burning Man his first year. It represents a transformative experience and that feeling of letting go, of letting things unfold as they are.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo umbrellas or parasols, are protective devices that humans have created to protect us from the elements, like the rain or the sun,\u201d he said. \u201cIn this case they represent emotionally protective devices that you\u2019re hanging onto that you think are protecting you, but they\u2019re really hindering you, keeping you from progressing as a human.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The parasols opened and closed as the giant wheel was rotated by participants.<\/p>\n

Benedict says it was amazing watching people interact with his installation, once they realized they can rotate the wheel, and then the discovery that the parasols actually open and close as they\u2019re moved, made for a fulfilling experience for the artist.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like this multi-layered discovery that\u2019s really fun to watch,\u201d Benedict said.<\/p>\n

Band Boxes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Artist and illustrator Katherine Bingley\u2019s Band Boxes installation was a hit with festival goers on Saturday. She spent a good 15 to 20 hours painting, building and designing the structure with a little help from Music Tastes Good Art Director Nicolassa Galvez.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI hope they’ll see the lyrics and be like, \u2018Hey… I know that line… sick,\u2019\u201d said Bingley. \u201cAnd then they’ll take a picture next to it, go drink a beer n\u2019 have the best time ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bingley says that out of the all the sides of the box, the Warpaint surface is her favorite. She asked four of her friends which Warpaint lyric would work best for this project and they each replied with something different. The final two lyric choices came down to “you live your life like a page from the book of my fantasy” and “How can I keep my composure?”<\/p>\n

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\u201cComposure won because, in the words of Michelle Malley, \u2018it fits the kat art style,\u2019\u201d said Bingley.<\/p>\n

Found Windows<\/strong><\/p>\n

Found Windows<\/em> is artist Lorna Alkana\u2019s installation celebrating Long Beach.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI thought about the windows the festival goers would see in downtown on their way to the show and once there,\u201d said Alkana. \u201cThe windows of cars and storefronts they walk past. The windows that tower into the sky. The glasses [and] frames they look through and into. The phone screens they look at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alkana said she wanted to add to these windows and so collaborated with Ben Koffman and Rachel Oto to construct and expand on the idea. Koffman built the frames out of wood recycled from skate ramp projects, while Oto created the wave sculpture that was set above the Iron and Wine-themed frame.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFriday was the first day, and people were definitely taking advantage of this little world with so many windows to look out of and in to,\u201d said Alkana. \u201cOne of my favorite parts of the piece is watching people discover the installation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tetris Blocks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Local artist Kelsey Cooper has always been a fan of functional and interactive art and started her handmade business, Kelso Doesn\u2019t Dance, based on that passion. Her giant Tetris Blocks<\/em> installation off to the right of the Main Stage was a delight to attendees, especially at night when the blocks would light up from within.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m definitely a believer that imagination and creativity aren\u2019t just for kids,\u201d she said. \u201cI definitely wanted to make something interactive for adults and children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Considering what would be most impactful in a music festival environment, Cooper said she was inspired by the popular giant Jenga game, but didn\u2019t want anyone to have to wait in line to play.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI’ve worked so hard on this with planning, researching and hand making each piece myself that it’s hard to have a favorite part,\u201d said Cooper. \u201cThe lights seem to be popular though. There were a lot of people who came by in the day and seemed surprised and excited that they lit up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As stellar as the lineup was for Music Tastes Good, you have to give the artists whose installations made exploring the festival that much more entertaining a few kudos.\u00a0Read on to find out more about each one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":66867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[283],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-music-tastes-good","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1742"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=1742"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}