G-Sync Events for the weeks of 09/4 - 10/2009
By Tommy Allen
How did we get to this moment of discovery and growth so fast in our history?
It has only been a year since G-Sync launched, and I am happy to report that many of the same events are returning this year -- from the Grand Rapids Young Professionals annual riverbank clean up to the perennial favorite Easttown Street Fair.
But if you search in this week’s edition of G-Sync, you will not find them listed here.
Are they not still worthy? You bet they are worthy even vital. In fact, their legacy is attested by the people who continue to come out and support these great community-building events.
But this fall we are a different city than last year. West Michigan has made a giant leap forward again.
Only weeks ago, the collective and connected voices to the powers that be were whispering hints of something big heading this way in the form of a new event, ArtPrize. Looking back, I think none of us expected the twists and turns this event would carve in our lives.
Each week leading up to the September 23 opening party, Rapid Growth has been there to point out unique contributions of this event on our city. And just when we thought we had seen it all, the event rises to a new height, causing the stars to dance before our eyes.
Every artist’s journey to ArtPrize’s debut is just as unique as the 1,262 artists who will be at one of the 159 venues in downtown Grand Rapids.
But two of the many late breaking stories that stand out to me are how ArtPrize has not only attracted the gaze of the world beyond our city limits, but how this event has already transformed the local businesses of this region.
Not only have artists invested in hiring hordes of local talent, craftspeople and even the downsized and unemployed, but the challenges of their projects they have produced have caught the eye of many on the outside as well as they seek a way in.
Last night while speaking with Jason Sosa of
Immersive Labs on the phone about his massive 24-square-foot touch screen wall that will be a part of the Activesite Artspace entry, I was informed that this may be the largest multi-user touch screen wall in the country.
But size is not why you go to the board, but rather to hear the story about how an interface had to be invented to handle the massive amounts of data this multi-user system requires.
Sosa talked about how this project “caught the eyes of Natural User Interface (NUI), a Silicon Valley firm that quickly retooled the software to utilize computer vision and multi-touch technology to seamlessly run 8 linked up cameras simultaneously at a whopping 125 frames per second.” (For reference, a video signal normally runs at 30 frames a second.)
This collective format of inside/out innovation around the creation of this art component will help broadcast this region’s ability to create to the world long after ArtPrize takes down the last banner after October 10.
But not all innovation needs an outsider’s touch to be realized, as artist Kelly Allen found out after decided to present her intricate works she is commonly known for in the galleries on a much grander scale.
When she was introduced to Grand Rapids Chair, a local manufacturer who works with lasers to precision cut metal, she set out to create the “pattern” for the piece.
One problem, her design was so complex it kept crashing their computers each time it tried to execute her vision.
Some people would have given up, but the folks at GRC were up for the challenge.
In the end, GRC spent time developing a process to handle data from an artist's software rather than the more conventional files that gets from an industrial design house. Their product line of chairs and tables for restaurants and other commercial ventures is already sold around the world, but now thanks to an artist’s vision, the company may attempt feats once thought off limits.
So the next time someone suggests that the arts are a frivolous activity and should be cut from our children’s education, let us remember these great stories that ArtPrize has helped reveal in our region.
Art is not just recess for the mind but is an innovation generator for the possible…for the future.
Choose local.…and often.
– Tommy Allen, Lifestyle Editor
Email me your ArtPrize Breakthru Story:
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Click here to continue to this week’s G-Sync events.Photo of Tommy Allen as he visits Kelly Allen’s studio. (Kelly is of no relation)
Press Releases for upcoming events in the West Michigan area should be sent to
[email protected]. Please include high res jpg images that are at least 500 pixels wide. Thank you. - Tommy