The Willimantic Screen Project, described in my first entry, was inspired by the ultimate urban screen project, Nina Colosi's Streaming Museum StreamingMuseum.org. With its new exhibition, New Era: The Middle East, the Streaming Museum was a partner and participant in this year's Tina B. Contemporary Art Festival in Prague, CZ, October 7-13,. As part of my ongoing effort to establish a screen site in Willimantic, I went to the festival in order to have a direct experience of the Streaming Museum's contribution to the festival and observe the effect of cultural content on media screens in public space.
The opening of the festival at the Vernon City Gallery in Prague presented the Streaming Museum on a large screen in a storefront window. Although the presentation format fell short of the power of a public media screen in highly trafficked public space, it was by far the most compelling piece in the exhibition, presenting a wide variety of creative work and offering viewers the opportunity to gather, interact and experience the work in an unconfined space. I was immediately able to visualize a similar presentation in downtown Willimantic. The use of empty storefront space could transform areas of our downtown in the best way possible – using formerly empty space to deliver information, creative projects and live performance to a public audience.
This was a welcome revelation, because while I had been wrestling with the logistics of creating an outdoor screen site, struggling with issues of zoning, funding, security and maintenance, I had ignored a simple, direct, affordable solution which could solve these problems and establish a site quickly and effectively.
Proceeding in this new direction, I am researching the equipment necessary to make this happen. I am also investigating potential sites for outdoor projections which, along with a media screen may equip us to present a film and video festival in downtown Willimantic, an idea which as been discussed in recent years. Along with this research, I have joined the board of the Thread City Development Committee, a group whose mission is to promote revitalization activities in Willimantic.
Video of Streaming Musem at TinaB in Prague is available at: junebisantz.com/TinaBFestival
Send comments and suggestions to: junebisantz@mac.com
For info on my work, including related public projects visit: junebisantz.com
