This piece offers a portrait of the inner personality of the Hirshhorn Museum, a modern art museum located in close proximity to the National Mall and federal government buildings in Washington D.C. The gun and the candle seem to indicate violence and religious sensation, as the microphones are reminiscent of a press conference, of many channels for one voice and correspondingly high volume. This piece may well be considered as a portrait of America.
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“Year Zero” was a concept album by Nine Inch Nails about a dystopian version of America 15 years in the future (from the time of the album’s release). It’s a vision of eroded civil liberties, advanced climate change, abuse of military power, and more.
The album itself presented a mostly vague, poetic look into the fictional world; the primary way the story was told was through an alternate reality game that took place in the months leading up to, and for a little while after the album’s release. Clues ranging from a code on a USB drive found in a venue bathroom to a mural painted under a bridge in London led fans, who banded together to find and decipher them, to fragments of various websites existing within the story world. Information from these sites would then lead to other diegetic websites, phone numbers, and for some in the Los Angeles area, the time and location of a physical meeting.
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]]>YouTube / Jeffrey Carpenter – via Iframely
Unlike anything you’ve ever experienced, STRATA challenges the boundaries of traditional theater. Through a series of captivating installations and encounters, you will travel through a meticulously designed space that will awaken your senses and rock your world.
In August 2012, Bricolage, in partnership with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, presented STRATA, an immersive, interactive theater experience. After purchasing tickets online, audience members were met on a Downtown street corner by supposed employees from the fictional Gate Corporation. They were then guided into a secret, undisclosed location (now revealed to be the former Bally Total Fitness Club) and, for two hours, subjected to “refitnessing” in order to reach “iConciousness.” Patrons passed through three floors of specially constructed rooms where the audience member and actor would play out an evocative, personal, sometimes enigmatic scene ending with a “test.”
STRATA (an acronym for the “Strategic Training Research And Testing Agency”), was one of the largest artistic installations in Pittsburgh’s history. City Paper characterized it as “the most ambitious event in local theater history.” It was an original Bricolage production, created in collaboration with lead artist Riley Harmon and Clear Story, and an all-star creative team including Jeffrey Carpenter, Gab Cody, Tami Dixon, Rob Long, Andrew J. Paul, Nina Sarnelle, and Sam Turich. (excerpt http://www.bricolagepgh.org/events/strata-cover-american-theatre-magazine)
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