Pixilerations: Cutting-Edge Digital Media Takes Over Providence

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Friday, October 01, 2010

ARTS by Tracey Minkin, GoLocalProv Features Editor

Talk about a lively experiment.

Drawing the visions and talents of local, national, and international artists to Providence, Pixilerations [v.7] is 11 days of truly new media, including interactive electronics, Web technology, and the

moving image. And from storefronts and galleries in Downcity to sites in Pawtucket and other parts of the capital city, this New Media Fringe Festival of FirstWorks Festival is a glowing, challenging, and remarkable event.

This year's Pixilerations (the seventh) has drawn 50 artists, whose interpretation of the theme "Pairings: two is better than one," have inspired installations that investigate issues like the controversy around surveillance technologies, private space as a commodity, to the richness of digital technology as an artistic tool.

Primal energy

And while that may sound cerebral, the installations practically hum with primal energy that drives many of these pieces on display until October 10th. A sprawling, deconstructed yellow plastic lily, for example, near the entrance to RISD's Sol Koffler Gallery, marks "What We Loved and Forgot," Megan and Murray McMillan's pensive video installation (being filmed in their Pawtucket studio, above) on memory and desire.

The married couple, transplants from California who came to RI for teaching jobs at Roger Williams University, are showing locally for the first time (concurrent with Pixilerations, the McMillans are opening shows in Boston and Italy). "Pixilerations has had some of the best work," Megan said. "There are really serious curators putting a bunch of love in the project," adds Murray.

The Providence art scene

The McMillans see a serious, expansive show like Pixilerations being not unexpected in an art scene as deep as Providence's. "With Providence artists there is a seriousness and simultaneously a love," Murray said. "People here are very passionate about what they're doing, but they're very, very busy doing it. When you get access to it by these brief windows [like Pixilerations], it's really kind of surprising to see what is getting done here."

A full schedule of installations, locations, and additional events such as concerts and tours, are available here. Pixilerations [v.7] runs through October 10.