Ingenuity Fest 2012 - Squonq!

 
© Stuart Pearl 2012 - Click on Image to Enlarge for Slideshow

Know the right places in Cleveland and you’ll always find interesting events to see.  One of my favorites is the annual Ingenuity Festival. 

 

The first Ingenuity Fest was held in 2004.  It's been intentionally moved to different sites throughout downtown in subsequent years.  There has been a motive to these moves.

A main goal of the festival has always been to focus attention on buildings or areas of the city that were either ignored by people, or not very well known.  Who knew we had a subway level on the Detroit-Superior Bridge?  Some did but many ended up enjoying the 2010 and 2011 festivals held at that location.  The bridge even sported a giant waterfall.

 

 

A similar strategy was used for the 2012 festival.  This year's event was held in two large shipping warehouses at docks 30 and 32 on Cleveland’s lakefront.  It brought public attention to prime lakefront property that has recently fallen into disuse.

 

These warehouses contain 120,000 square feet of exhibit space as well as protection from the weather.  They are easily accessible, being a short walk from Browns stadium and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

 

The huge warehouses made it possible to showcase a number of performance, muscial and craft activities.  Just outside the dock area set a different mood with Squonk Opera and other attractions.  The festival always attempts to create a mashup of art, technology and performance.  Frequently the audience participates in the displays and activities. 

An icon of the event was Squonk Opera’s  “Go Roadshow” musical truck.  This vehicle sported a blimp, spinning grand piano, calliope, trumpet horns and rotors.  I didn’t have a chance to hear the performance but it was a fascinating spectacle to view against the setting sun on Lake Erie.

 

 

Events like this are a magnet for "fair food" and stir fry was on the menu.  This man was the fastest cook I've seen, dumping huge bags of vegetables into a giant wok.

 

A number of local artists used the large venue for mural sized efforts.  Work from the Rust Belt Monster Collective was one example.

 

 

 

 

The stonework of Giancarlo Callichia was one of the featured warehouse exhibits.  Other artists were also on display in the impromptu gallery spaces.

Wood sculptured dinosausr occupied an area of the exhibit floor.

One of the more fascinating installations was created by Anthony Castronovo.  He is an artist and educator "whose works blur the line between sculpture, ecology, engineering, and robotics."  

From his website he states  "I am interested in our human relationship to nature. I have explored this interest in many different ways including performance events, drawings, and sculptures." 

For Ingenuity Fest he created sculpture representing a plant / human  /machine hybrid.  It was pretty dark so you couldn't see the aluminum base very well.  However the red, green and blue glowing cast glass flowers attracted a lot of attention.  His blog shows more detail of these sculptures.

Photo of the photographer, by Don Nikolai

The Squonk blimp was pretty deflated by the end of the evening.  The dark coastline made for some nice imagery though of the Rock Hall on our walk back to the parking lot.


 

Clevelands Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - Northcoast Harbor

Fog On The Cuyahoga - Atmospheric Perspective

© Stuart Pearl 2012 - Click on Images to Enlarge

We get all kinds of weather in Cleveland.  "Lake Effect" can randomly dump snow, deliver rain, and cause fog when least expected.  All this happens downtown and across both eastern and west suburbs.  But the Flats Valley creates it's own atmospheric effects. 

Cold lake water, a warmer river current and Spring showers can create some interesting photo opportunities.  Above, the 620' bulk carrier Mississagi heads out to the lake under a light rain and fog.

Tied up along Columbus Road is the 110' Apalachee.  Built in 1943 she is now a retired U.S. Coast Guard Cutter and one day will become a floating museum.  During her life she performed search and rescue, fire fighting, law enforcement and ice breaking duties on the Great Lakes.  A video of the Apalachee arriving in Cleveland on May 29, 2009 can be seen on Jeff Thoreson's blog here.

I've always tried to imbue my images with a sense of depth.  I want the viewer to feel that the near portions of a landscape are rising up to meet the eye while the far objects are receding into the distance.  This creates the feeling of dimensionality. 

I'm not attempting 3-D or stereoscopic photography. I'm just trying to create a visual experience that goes beyond the flat print hanging on the wall or being viewed on a computer monitor.

The great landscape painters faced a similar challenge long before photography was invented.  How could they represent the real world which has height, width and depth, on a flat two dimensional canvas?  They used a concept we refer to as atmospheric perspective. 

When we gaze out over a landscape, the closer foreground objects are more colorful, sharper in detail and have greater contrast.  Things in the distance are less distinct, fuzzier and the atmosphere may even look hazier.  Our brain and eyes then assemble this information into the three demensional vision of the world we see.

A walk along the Cuyahoga on a foggy day provides great opportunities for this type of photography.  Foreground objects are sharp and bold in their solid relief.  The background fades into a muted distance as colors lose their saturation and become indistinct.  Photographic compostions done under the even lighting of a cloudy day can take on a soft painterly aspect.  This can be a wonderful change from the often razor sharp aspect of today's digital photography.  There are also processing techniques in Photoshop that I use to enhance my artistic interpretations of Flats landmarks. 

A major criticism of digital photography is that often the maker creates photos that are too sharp.  They become harsh in their representation of the world.  This can have it's place depending upon the goal and intent of the photographer.  But too apply this as a broad brush to every image is a mistake.  I use the sharpenning technique sparingly - not every object should jump off the photographic canvas.  I still like to have most of my images look like traditional photographics, pleasing to the eye, and relaxing to view.

Concrete River Bank Anchors on the Cuyahoga

I've often told fellow photographers that much can be learned by walking through a museum's landscape galleries, and studying the great works. Albert Bierstadt is one such artist I've admired. He created such beautiful works as Looking Up Yosemite Valley , Rocky Mountains , and The Oregon Trail . The last is one of my favorites. I've viewed it in the permanent collection of the Butler Institute of American art.  Standing a few feet from this magnificent work it's a sight to behold.

Once the fog burns off you can see an interesting view of the Hart Crane Memorial Park on Columbus Road.  It features interesting metal sculpture inspired by Crane's poetry.  Gene Kangas designed this public art.

This last compostion was made during the 2011 Ingenuity Festival, well above the Cuyahoga.  The weather had been clear and sunny that day in constrast to my fog shrouded compositions. 

The streetcar level of the Detroit-Superior Bridge was open to the public as part of the festival.  I felt the "theater lighting" of the subway arches provided nice framing of the Flat's stacks and other bridgespans against the backdrop of a beautiful sunset.  It's here simply because I feel it's a pretty image.

Ingenuity Falls - Festival Views 2010

© Stuart Pearl 2010 - (Click on Images to Enlarge)

A 60' wide curtain of flame seemed to envelope the riverbank. The red torrent poured from grand old steel that had marked the heyday of Cleveland industry. Rock music and crowd sounds drifted from the source of the falls. This was the Detroit Superior Bridge, site of Cleveland's 2010 Ingenuity Festival.

Nautica Queen on the Cuyahoga

I'm always looking for new photo projects in Cleveland. I search for interesting light. It is the type which combines with our everyday skyline shapes and textures in a way that creates unique and interesting perspectives of these commonplace scenes.

I try to celebrate the mundane in ways that are visually unique and memorable. My friend Don Nikolai and I spent last Saturday night walking the length of the Veterans Memorial Bridge as well as the West Bank of the Cuyahoga. It was quite a spectacle. We wanted to check out this year's Ingenuity Festival.

Don Nikolai on the West Bank

Musical sounds, strobing lights and the aroma of food enveloped us we strolled the lower level of the bridge. Sometimes we walked on concrete. Other times a metal grate was the only thing separating us from the river. You could see the water splashing into the Cuyahoga ten stories below.

The old Cleveland Subway system once travelled this lower bridge level, providing transit from Superior Aveneue on the East bank to riders at the W. 25th and W. 9th Street stations. The rails were torn out though in the mid 1950's when the stations were closed.

Ingenuity Fest tried to present something for everybody. A very diverse crowd of visitors seemed to enjoy what was offered. Everything from performance art to gallery hangings, stage production and light shows were available to view. Old utility rooms and power closets were turned into display areas for sculpture and other creative efforts.

Sculpture could even be fabricated from common plastic cups and then artistically illuminated. Moving the festival to the lower level (old Cleveland Subway) of the Detroit Superior bridge was an innovative decision. The venue provided an exhibit stage nearly 3/4 of a mile in length while providing stunning views of the Flats and Cleveland skyline. Combined with the festival waterfall and ongoing light shows, the onlookers were always near some sort of visual treat.

Geared turntable of the Center Street Swing Bridge

Was Ingenuity Festival a success? I don't know how you would quantify that. But Don and I saw thousands of Clevelanders enjoying themselves talking, interacting and transfixed by the creative efforts of a lot of great local talent.