Light entertainment

Light entertainment By Steven Froias

How do you follow up a headline-grabbing public art debut? By continuing to bring innovative art, installations and events to New Bedford in 2020.

That’s exactly what Design, Art and Technology Massachusetts (DATMA) is planning for the year ahead. DATMA’s mission is to “present contemporary art at the convergence of design, art and technology through exhibitions, performances, and education for all ages and cultural backgrounds in the South Coast region and beyond.” They are a nonprofit institution that was founded in 2016 – though the first few years were dedicated to laying the foundation for their public art debut in 2019.

That debut and the manifestation of their mission statement happened in 2019 with “Summer Winds.” It was a series of events that had the stunning “Silver Current” by Los Angeles-based artist Patrick Shearn at its center. All summer and into the fall, his kinetic floating sculpture moved in the wind above Custom House Square Park in New Bedford’s downtown. The art drew many to the city as visitors and residents alike became enchanted not only by the visual spectacle but also the soft, shimmering sound of “Silver Current” in this green oasis. It was DATMA’s first exhibit since forming, and it was a triumph of vision.

Returning in 2020, DATMA is adopting “Light” as their theme, and their ambition has only grown.

Bright ideas

In 2020, DATMA will present multiple works of art embracing the visual, of course, but also architecture, performance, and audio into a new portfolio illuminating the theme of light.

They’ll also, according to Executive Director Lindsay Miś, be forming new bonds with the community. “We’re always on the lookout for new partnerships and different ways to engage the community,” she says.

New partnerships include one with Greater New Bedford Regional Technical Vocational High School. Students will work with Providence-based architect Chris Bardt, and UMassD CVPA and New Bedford DPI on an installation at Union and Purchase Streets. This project will be a permanent piece of art that will become part of the streetscape forever after. While Silver Current is a hard act to follow, DATMA believes the group called MASARY is up to the challenge. They will create next summer’s signature public art for Light: 2020. Beginning next June, MASARY will bathe historic New Bedford buildings in art and light. Like Silver Current, this promises to become a destination art event for the city.

MASARY Studios is a transdisciplinary collective reconsidering environments through site-specific installations using sound, light, interactivity, and performance. Based in Boston, the studio’s practice includes live percussion performance, electronic music and production, facade projection-mapped video, artistic research, technology

and materials fabrication, and the expansive use of animation. The studio is artist-owned and managed and was founded in 2015.

One of DATMA’s goals this year, according to Miś, is to maximize the opportunity these artists and members of the South Coast community have to interact with each other. So, in addition to the public art, they are planning multiple workshops, lectures, and supplemental gallery shows.

DATMA will also be heading indoors for other elements of Light: 2020. Soo Sunny Park will exhibit in a classroom in UMassD CVPA Star Store. In addition, performance artist Miwa Matreyek will journey to New Bedford next fall, at a location still to be determined. Park writes that “Light is usually treated as a liminal being: something that mediates our visual awareness of the world, but not something that we see in and of itself. In my work, light is not just a means by which the form is seen, but part of what constitutes the work of art.

“Light is a sculptural material, not because without it one cannot see the forms, but because without it there is no projection, reflection, translucency, or shadow, so the drawing or sculpture is not complete.”

Miwa Matreyek is a Los Angeles-based animator, director, designer, and performer. She has been an internationally touring independent artist since 2010. She creates live, staged performances where she interacts with her animations as a shadow silhouette, at the cross-section of cinematic and theatrical, fantastical and tangible, illusionistic and physical.

Public interest

As the year is being mapped out, you can expect more to be added to the schedule for Light: 2020. You can follow DATMA at datma.org for updated information.

Miś says that artists arrive on DATMA’s radar thanks to its active board members. “They travel everywhere and report back on what they see,” she explains. In fact, the work of all DATMA artists has been seen in person by at least one board member and each comes with professional references. It’s part of a support system that extends beyond the organization to include the community, she continues. That included major support from the City of New Bedford, from the Mayor’s office to the Department of Public Infrastructure, which was instrumental in helping to get “Silver Current” into the air in 2019.

And of course, there is the support of the public, too – credit goes to the many people who journeyed to the South Coast and New Bedford to see “Silver Current” or participate in other events associated with “Summer Winds” in 2019. DATMA is particularly grateful for the residents of the city who embraced this wild public art installation in their downtown, or who also took part in activities associated with DATMA.

After all, it’s why DATMA was founded and why it plans to keep doing even more to fulfill its mission.

“We look at sites and try to find a way to discover its meaning and history so people can see it in a different way,” Miś states.

In 2020, that different way dictates that there shall be light in a city whose motto is Lucem Diffundo—“I diffuse Light.”

n Reinforced concrete septic tanks (1,000-10,000 gallon capacity)

n Leaching chambers

n Galleys and seepage pits

n Manufactured & delivered brick face, decorative stone, and plain concrete precast steps (1-8 steps) (different styles available 4' to 8' wide)

n Riser/covers to build-up your septic covers

n Pre-cast sonatubes

23 Alberto Drive • Westport, MA 508-678-4666 BristolCountyPrecast.webs.com Non-Settling Stair Hangers Available

— Servicing and licensed in MA and RI —

removal

pruning

trimming

stump grinding storm damage

lots cleared

aerial lift

firewood

RYAN NADEAU Call 508-679-3600 — OVER 20 YEARS EXPERIENCE —