To Whom It May Concern;

119 needs partners. We have developed an organizational and programming model that in the long-term can help grow and sustain Lowell’s nascent ‘creative economy.’   We have a small operating budget of less than $100K/yr and need to develop partnerships with other local arts educators. We continue to pursue a number of grants but do not see this as reliable source of income. We see UMass Lowell and Middlesex Community College as potential partners.

A little history: 911 Gallery first opened its doors in 1992 at 911 E Main Street in Indianapolis, IN. It was one of the first galleries on the World Wide Web. Its exhibits have been published in ARTnews, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Art New England. In 1996, we moved to Fort Point Channel, Boston. In 1997 the gallery co-coordinated a digital printmaking workshop at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, and joined the steering committee of the Boston Cyberarts Festival, for which we have produced more than a dozen exhibitions over five festivals.

In 2005, we opened in Lowell. 119 Gallery, renamed for its new address at 119 Chelmsford Street, is less than a mile from the downtown in the Lower Highlands.

The mission of 119 is to expand our community's vision of creative possibilities through exposure to contemporary and new media art, innovative ideas and cutting-edge techniques. The gallery offers a rich and diverse program of exhibitions, performances and community-based arts services; and welcomes people of all ages, backgrounds and means to explore, engage, and experience new, innovative art.

We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit, educational corporation.

This is what 119 has to offer potential partners –

            1)   A vibrant cutting-edge gallery space.

2)   Workshop and performance space.

3)  Community access (in 50% Southeast Asian community).

4)   Working artists/educators (on our staff and on our board) in the areas on online community development, art and technology, new media, video, sound and movement art, interdisciplinary and performance art.

5) Space for off-campus exhibits (between curated exhibits) and events.

6) Space for off-campus classes.

7) Internships.

8) Experience in online teaching/learning.

The Artbotics program at UML is a good start. 119 works with artists who work with technology in a variety of media - Andrew Neumann, interactive sculpture; Greg Kowalski and Andrea Pensado, motion-triggered video and sound; Jessica Rylan, noise artist and analog synthesizer builder. The Art and Technology program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is well-known. Closer to home the Studio for Interrelated Media at MassArt is a good example. Several of our artists graduated from this program – Matt Anderson, performance; Bebe Beard, sculpture, video and sound art; Vivian Pratt, 2D and 3D digital printmaking. SIM at MassArt is interesting because it includes performance art, a contemporary practice that attracts many students.

Art and Technology is a good fit for Lowell. Hi-tech industries are locating in and around the city. The work force is blue-collar, used to working with their hands and in developing new technology.

I am an interdisciplinary artist, working across disciplines with video, sound and movement. This is not a new form of expression – it started in the late ‘60’s with groups such as Experiments in Art and Technology, The Kitchen, and at the Experimental Television Center. Artists associated with the development of performative media included Gary Hill, Bill Viola, Bill T Jones and Arnie Zane, Tom Sherman, Steina and Woody Vasulka.

119 is prepared to work with our academic partner in developing courses such as –

1) Art and Technology Studio – exploring online, in installation and performance projects that use microprocessors, Max/MSP Jitter programming, cameras and sensors, and mind/body/machine interfaces.

2) Sound Art – a recent ad for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago said, “There’s more to sound than music.” There’s noise, soundscapes, new forms of composition, DIY instruments and more. There’s a history of sound as art going back to Luigi Russolo and Dziga Vertov. And then there’s Lowell’s own Emil Beaulieau!

3) Video Art – exploring the video image, visual language, the camera, multitrack editing, mixing, processing and effects, and performative video.

 

4) Creative Movement – tuning the senses and heightening awareness. Using techniques from theater and dance to tune the mind and body. For more traditional studio artists, the studio focuses on observation, integration, and fine-tuning perception.

 

5)  Improvisation – exercises on creating in real-time, the focus is on improvisation as both a creative process and as a method of sourcing material in performance and in traditional art.

 

6) Symbolizing – a lecture course on thinking visually based on the work of Suzanne K Langer and updated to include present-day theory on visual and kinetic learning, visualizing and improvisation.

 

7) The Mediated Environment – a lecture course on media ecology.

 

8) Postmodernism – a lecture course on postmodern performance, appropriation, virtual art, the Situationists, and psychogeography.

 

9) Multimedia Performance – a lecture course on integrating image, sound and movement in performance. Beginning with early experiments in ‘visual music’ and Bauhaus theater the course covers Fluxus, Judson Church Theater and contemporary collectives such as Critical Art Ensemble, Bodycartography, and The Institute For Infinitely Small Things.

 

10) 20^th Century art history including Dada, Fluxus and performance. An examination of art not as product or even process - letting go of the object, elimination of process, embodiment and immersion – art as experience.

In partnering, 119 offers a unique opportunity for the UML and MCC Art Departments and their students to move off-campus and to experience the intersection of art and community.