Interpreting the Square Is September Exhibit At City Hall Atrium

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27, 2009

For more information, please contact:
Miah Michaelsen, Assistant Director of Economic and Sustainable Development for the Arts, City of Bloomington, 349-3534
Danny Lopez, Communications Director, City of Bloomington, 349-CITY, lopezd@bloomington.in.gov

Bloomington, IN - The City of Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District (BEAD) will showcase Interpreting the Square from Friday, Sept. 4, to Wednesday, Sept. 30, at the City Hall Atrium, 401 N. Morton Street.

The exhibit features a collaboration of 30 artists and creative writers from the Bloomington community and Indiana University and explores the cultural, social, and economic complexity of Bloomington's thriving business district. Each artist has been paired with one of 30 buildings facing the Courthouse Square and has created a work based upon his or her interests and medium. The pieces will be positioned in the final exhibit to reflect the layout of the Square itself, resulting in a multimedia installation that portrays the complexity of the Courthouse Square by combining 30 points of view into one work of art.

The exhibit's opening reception is September 4 from 6-8 p.m, also in the Atrium.

Participants include Indiana University graduate and undergraduate students, members of IU faculty and staff, and local Bloomington artists and professionals. These artists represent many areas of expertise, including painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, book arts, digital art, sound design, landscape architecture, and creative writing.

Interpreting the Square was devised and organized by Sara Brooks and Kristin Carlson, graduate students in Fine Arts at Indiana University. The goal is to discover how the collaboration of a group of people on an art installation can emulate, and therefore teach viewers about, the complexity of a real life environment.

The faculty advisor for Interpreting the Square is Laurel Cornell, Professor of Sociology, Indiana University.

In January 2009 the project was awarded the Fran Snygg Grant for Artistic Collaboration from the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculties.

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