July 14 at 3:30pm, 4:30pm, and 5:30 pm
Performance by David Bithell
Matters Dark and Luminous (2023) for interactive electroacoustic music, projected generative animation, and handmade puppets.
SOU Theatre Building Room 227
Each performance approximately 30 minutes.
Registration is Required. Sign up using the links below.
3:30pm SOLD OUT
4:30pm: https://forms.gle/kXuZ797B6nsvanbX8
5:30pm: SOLD OUT
Matters Dark and Luminous (2023) is an environment for telling stories through interactive sound, generative animation, and simple puppetry. It is a diminutive stage for mixed reality performances, a concert hall for miniature instruments, and an intimate twenty-first century campfire.
Artist Statement
Matters Dark and Luminous (2023) is an environment for telling stories through interactive sound, generative animation, and simple puppetry. It is a diminutive stage for mixed reality performances, a concert hall for miniature instruments, and an intimate twenty-first century campfire. I am a trans-disciplinary artist with equal backgrounds in the performing arts (music composition, technology, improvisation, and performance) and visual arts (interactive art, video art, digital fabrication, kinetic sculpture). I craft performative relationships between non-human systems (machines, computers, processes) and human experience. I utilize emerging media to develop new forms of meaning and to provoke the exploration of self in a technologically saturated environment. This results in work that constructs “the machine” in a variety of guises: as a source of false magic and illusion, as a vehicle for participation, and as a poetic form of surrogate communal memory. Time, narrative, humor, and illusion are all central tools in this process.
Artist Bio
David Bithell is an interdisciplinary artist, composer and performer exploring the connections between visual art, music, theater, and performance. Utilizing new technologies and real-time interactive environments, his work brings the precision and structure of contemporary music and audio practices together with an understanding of performance, narrative, and humor drawn from recent theater, live cinema, and performance art. His output ranges from interactive installations, sound art, and generative animation to live performance and experimental music compositions. His works have been presented at major venues in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Highlights include: the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Canada), the Portland Biennial, the Lucerne Festival (Switzerland), SPARK Festival of Electronic Music and Art (Minneapolis), Ghent International Film Festival, Pixilerations [v.6], the Seoul International Computer Music Festival, the MANCA Festival (France), the IS ARTI Festival (Lithuania), and at numerous colleges and universities in the United States. He has received grants and commissions from Meet the Composer Commissioning Music / USA, the American Composerʼs Forum, the Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology, and the Oregon Arts Commission. He currently is a Professor of Art and Emerging Media at Southern Oregon University where he is chair of the Creative Arts Department and is a core faculty member of the Center for Emerging Media and Digital Arts (EMDA).
June 21 at 5:43am
Performance by artist Chella Maize
Susanne Homes Hall at SOU
555 Indiana Street Ashland, OR 97520
Park in One Hour Parking behind the SMA or on the street.
June 21st during Summer Solstice sunrise at 5:34am, a performance by Art Beyond artist Chella Maize will be performed with her work titled, Pony in a Pit.
Saturday, June 17 from 10am to 3pm
Art Beyond Plein Air Painting Event & Family Day Activities
Lithia Park
Sycamore Grove – Adjacent to the Japanese Garden
Lithia Park, Winburn Way, Ashland, OR 97520
Take a walk in the park and observe and interact Plein Air artists. The public is encouraged to engage with the artists between 10am-3pm to talk about their work and process. Artists will be invited to show one piece created at this event at the Crystal Ballroom in Ashland Springs Hotel on Saturday and Sunday, June 24 and 25. Artwork will be available for sale at 80% to the artist and 20% to Project Space for processing.
Artist who are interested in participating can register here: https://forms.gle/xLDxtTzxH78fXHFUA
Thursday, June 15 from 1pm to 4pm
June 16 – 21 from 9am to 5pm
Open Studios
Susanne Homes Hall at SOU
555 Indiana Street Ashland, OR 97520
Park in One Hour Parking behind the SMA or on the street.
Susanne Homes is a building you may be familiar with if you or your parents are Southern Oregon University (SOU) alumni. It housed generations of students before being abandoned six years ago due to flooding. In the years since, it has sat largely empty.
In collaboration with the SOU programs of; Honors College, Creative Arts, Sculpture/4D Collective and the Schneider Museum of Art, these unused dorm rooms have been turned into installation spaces for student artists. SOU Honors College and Art students have been given the opportunity to completely transform these spaces free from limitations.
The second and third floors of Susanne Homes are open with artwork to be explored.
Come experience these artworks for the opening of Suzy Three and Suzy Two, with the artists present on June 15th, from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. Artist tours available 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Saturday, June 10, from 2pm to 4:30pm
‘Kayumanggi Project” – An Introduction to Clay Harvesting and Processing with Juan Santiago
Emigrant Lake & Gambrell Gallery
Registration Required
(2 Locations) Meet artist Juan Miguel Santiago at the Emigrant Lake Trailhead parking lot on Old Greensprings Hwy at 2pm. From OR-66 E/Green Springs Hwy 66 make a sharp left onto Old Green Springs Hwy where you will see an orange traffic cone with balloons. Drive all the way towards the lake and make a right onto the parking lot. https://goo.gl/maps/BrSnyjAi6zfM8icf7
We will spend 20 minutes to 1-hour max harvesting very accessible “wild clay” samples as he shows you how to locate, identify and harvest. We will then take our samples to Gambrel Gallery in Ashland at 1980 East Main St. in Ashland (about a 13 minute drive) where Santiago will share the whole process of preparing the samples ready for working. He will lead our short drive to Gambrel Gallery and Gambrel Arts where other “Art Beyond” exhibitions are on display. https://goo.gl/maps/A9149owULaHQpZ366 Our time together will also include a tour of the gallery, gardens, and Juan’s studio as well as an opportunity to see the other exhibitions within the property. There will be cold drinks and snacks!
What to Bring: Prepare as if you are hiking from a sunny warm to a hot afternoon and bring a sun hat, sunglasses and hiking shoes/sandals. Hydrate well and bring your own water in a bottle. If you are looking forward to processing your own clay samples, bring a 5-gallon bucket, a handheld gardening shovel, and a small towel for muddy hands (these tools are optional).