ABAiR (Arts Benicia Artists in Residence) Project: Kal Spelletich Artist Talk

Arts Benicia is hosting an Artist Talk with Kal Spelletich, the first solo Arts Benicia Artist in Residence. Spelletich is an internationally recognized machine artist working and living in San Francisco. Regarding the site specific installation the artist created for the ABAiR Project, “Morning Glory” Spelletich stated:
“I built an interactive installation using robotics, sensors, video, audio and local found objects. I composed a functioning composition in the gallery using technology and locally sourced materials. There is a “Vine” stretched across the room, with a robotic arm playing it controlled by the viewer’s aura, or the robots react from sensory experience and input not a computer brain, hence they are run by the audience by touch, sound, wind, heartbeat, etc.; a new way to instill consciousness.
I am interested in work that encourages dialogical interaction and confronts complex issues concerning identity, agency, responsibility, and the many varieties of communication. To explore new forms of interpersonal communication through touch, force-feedback technology, intimacy, social interaction via technology, machines, robots, fear play, human and animal interaction, rite of passage and empowerment.
I propose to crowd-source public fields of energy. To harvest human energy and tap into the power of intention.  To use the public as a tuning fork. To explore a variety of experimental approaches for the investigation of unexplained phenomena that might help to enlarge our scientific view of the world. Can technology do spiritual work? Can technology get us back in touch with a deeper level?”
Kal Spelletich
July 30, 2013

Now in its fourth year, the ABAiR project (Arts Benicia Artists in Residence) continues to provide a rare opportunity for artists working in the field of site-specific installation to have extended time to work out concepts in a gallery space. There are two phases in this project. The first phase is the installation and residency phase, July 11 - July 28, and the second phase is the exhibition phase, August 1 - August 18. During the first phase, the public is able to observe the artist at work and engage with him and his art making processes. During the second phase the public is invited to view the finished installation.

Arts Benicia, a non-profit visual arts organization, gallery and arts education center, is located at 991 Tyler St., #114 in Benicia’s historic Arsenal district. For more information regarding this exhibit and other Arts Benicia events, please call 707-747-0131, e-mail info [at] artsbenicia.org, or visit http://www.artsbenicia.org.