Wip Festival Report

This weekend I attended several presentations at the Works-In-Progress Festival, which proved to be an engaging and downright fun event. Regarding overall impressions, the attendance was modest but hearty enough for the spaces (which ranged from the Iowa City Public Library to Public Space One), the presentations were quite varied in terms of media (from more traditional poetry readings to experimental video, performance art and electronic music), and the majority of presenters seemed to be from the film/video production department or the intermedia department/school of art.

The things most worth noting about the event were 1) the critiques/talk backs held at the end of each panel and 2) the performance by Luke Fischbeck on Saturday night (the high point of the event for me). The critique I sat in on was after the "Getting Intermediary" section on Saturday afternoon-- I was surprised by people's candidness and willingness to engage one another about the works. Andrew Peterson, one of the festival coordinators, asked that people keep comments "future-oriented", which at first I thought would lead to brainstorming sessions about how to make someone's art or "finish" a piece, but overall the individuals who spoke about work made critical and pointed comments.

In regards to the performance by Luke Fischbeck, I was fortunate to have a bit of a sneak preview since he was a visiting artist with my Intermedia I students a few days prior-- getting to see his work and also having him explain the technical details was good from a geeky/techy perspective but certainly not crucial to enhancing my experience of it on Saturday night. (I was particularly interested in his piece 'Make a Baby', which operates off of the electro-magnetic energy in people's bodies responding to a series of devices connected to amplifiers and his laptop). He set up in the middle of the concrete floor, sitting in front of his laptop, long cords weaving in and out of each other with rainsticks connected to devices, a pile of rocks, and a series of tambourines, cymbals, and gourds. A video projection of imagery pulsated behind him while he turned knobs and clicked on his computer-- long, deep sounds began pulsating from the speakers, slowly building upon each other. Crawling on his hands and knees, he started playing some of the instruments and moved towards people in the crowd, inviting them to take hold of an instrument. Eventually, nearly every person in the room was participating, whether grasping each other's hands and arms around the 'Make a Baby' sensors, or hovering around the circle of instruments, people, and cords in the center of the floor. The sounds could be described as electronic music, but it was by far one of the most participatory music events I have ever attended-- part music event, part performance art, part community based art. His approach and interaction with the audience as well as the audience members interaction with one another was amazing-- a culture was quickly created that allowed for experimentation and play. The tools and technology piqued interest and granted, the crowd (mostly artists who had presented or performed at other WIP events) was not exactly shy, but in large part I think Luke's approach to the art experience and his gentle, laid-back personality invited this kind of participation and response, which all made for an unusually engaging and exciting night in Iowa City's art scene.