February may not be the ideal month to enjoy outdoor art exhibitions in Syracuse, but not even a nasty blizzard nor bitter cold could stop three first-year graduate students in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Department of Transmedia from launching the Urban Video Project (UVP), a series of experimental outdoor video projections.
Blake Carrington, a computer art student, and Christopher Gianunzio and Colin Todd, both art photography students, each created a piece of video art to project on the exteriors of three different arts venues in Syracuse on February 15, the date of the city’s monthly TH3 (third Thursday) art open—and one day after a major snowstorm hit the northeastern United States. The goal of UVP is to bring art to the streets and buildings of Syracuse and demonstrate the bridge between art and technology.
“Art doesn’t just belong in a gallery or museum—it has the capacity to invigorate a larger environment and bring social change,” says Carrington. “We are confident that this project will help promote Syracuse as a lively center for contemporary art.”
The students created UVP after they met in the fall semester and discovered their mutual interests in public art, video, and technology. They found additional inspiration in their SU classes; Gianunzio, for example, studied art and civic dialogue with VPA artist-in-residence Carrie Mae Weems in Social Studies 101, while Carrington looked at the relationship between architecture and video in Gender, Space, and Power. To plan the project, they worked closely with the University and several community partners, including the 40 Below Public Arts Task Force, and specifically chose venues that reside on the Connective Corridor, the city’s emerging arts and cultural center.
“The organic and collaborative origins of this project illustrate the underpinnings of Scholarship in Action,” says SU Chancellor Nancy Cantor. “These artists, who happen to be graduate students, are intrinsically motivated to communicate with, and promote critical reflection within, the community through their art.”
For the February 15 premiere, each student used a laptop computer, digital media projector, and a power source to show the work and had friends document the process with video and photography. Todd, who projected his piece from the warmth of his car outside SU’s Warehouse Gallery, was pleased with the attendance despite the cold. “There seemed to be a lot of interest in the projection from both people just walking by and people going to the show [at the gallery],” he says. “Events like this are important to the community. They give the public a way to engage with art in familiar settings and to activate communities to think creatively.”
The students, SU, and the 40 Below Public Arts Task Force want to expand the project to include more TH3 venues, other spontaneous projections, as well as the possibility of fixed video art installations along the Connective Corridor that could accommodate content from students and visiting artists. The end goal would be to establish Syracuse as a center for video art innovation.
“We want this project to bring art out to the city, address community issues, and be used as a gateway for other artists,” says Todd. “We want Syracuse to be seen as the place for video art.”
To read more about the Connective Corridor, visit connectivecorridor.syr.edu. To read more about TH3, visit www.th3syracuse.com.
Comments about this story? E-mail us at chimes@syr.edu.