 | On September 22, Pine Lake hosted the first annual Technorganic Mini-Festival, an event featuring a unique, thought-provoking blend of art and technology in a natural environment. Organized by assistant professor of Art Cary Peppermint, the event--timed to coincide with the autumnal equinox--featured works by Hartwick students, faculty, and a number of outside artists. Visitors arriving at the Pine Lake Lodge were greeted by a trail of luminary lanterns and the first artwork (on left). These they followed down the hill, past a neon light installation by resident artist and glass blower Eric Halvorson (below left) and a student work (below right), and around the lake. |
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Reaching the Swamp Trail, visitors followed the lights up the hill, first passing an earthwork/digital video installation by Professor of Art and Sculptor in Residence Terry Slade (below left). Next came a glowing cluster of eMacs (a collaborative work by students) nestled behind logs on a hillside, displaying looped digital videos (below right). The machines, so incongruous in the middle of the woods, resembled a colony of invasive alien mushrooms.
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Nearing the top of the trail, people passed--and lingered near--an eerie, evocative sound installation, which filled the woods with noises and music which were man-made, but still didn't seem entirely out of place among the trees and the darkness.
Finally, at the crest of the hill, a huge canvas screen was strung up between two pine trees in a clearing. One of the most surreal moments of the night was reaching this spot to find a crowd of people sitting on the ground, staring at the screen, waiting for the show to begin. Their faces glowed blue from the blank screen, on which was projected the message "WAITING FOR SIGNAL." The wait was soon over, and tthe audience was rewarded by a half an hour of compelling original digital videos.
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Soon after the end of the show, all the equipment was loaded out into trucks. The woods were once again quiet, peaceful, intact; while the woods were left unchanged, our own perceptions--notions about art, nature, and technology--had been irreversably challenged, broadened, deepened.
For more photos, click here.
