An Interactive Arts and Technology Adventure
Ingenuity Festival 2010
The Ingenuity Festival, Cleveland’s ingenious interactive arts and technology adventure, metamorphoses the lower level of the historic Veterans/Detroit-Superior Bridge Fri 9/24 – Sun 9/26. By staging Ingenuity at its new location on the Bridge, the organizers are bringing Clevelanders into contact with one of Cleveland’s greatest engineering feats.
If you’ve never been on the lower level of the Bridge during a bridge tour, you’ll find it feels like a secret world above the water, and the cavernous space is much more spacious than you’d think being under a bridge would feel. It’s the perfect place for a street, or should I say bridge, party where everyone’s trying something new and showing off. Think about it—-it’s completely covered so it’s weather-proof. Look out for some old cable cars or replicas to get a feel for how they may have looked on the Bridge, and look for a waterfall.
That’s what Ingenuity Festival is: Visual and performing artists, technology innovators, and culinary creators coming together to display creative new and innovative work designed to wow the audience. But the audience isn’t supposed to just stand there and gawk, it’s supposed to participate in the experience. As co-founder James Levin told me, the Ingenuity Festival is “a celebration of the city and its resources, a giant block party, a festival of what is best and great about this city, an excuse to rediscover what makes this city unique and vibrant.” Best of all, to make sure everyone has access, this powerful event is completely free.
The true magic of this event is the guy behind it. James Levin co-founded the Ingenuity Festival with Thomas Mulready in 2004 and now is the Artistic Director of the show. Levin was also instrumental in the restoration project at Gordon Square Arts District and was a founding director of Cleveland Public Theatre, where he produced a number of their events, including DanceWorks. He is a playwright, director, producer, lyricist, and a community activist who also, as an attorney, represents nonprofits. When I asked Levin how the idea came about, he said he was — with a tip of his hat to Thomas Mulready — “wanting to create an umbrella event to celebrate the creativity of Northeast Ohio, plus it was an excuse for me to work again with that famous Cleveland impresario Thomas Mulready who co-founded the Festival with me.”
The date is later this year to allow greater access to college and university students. The theme is Creative Re-Use. Levin explained that “the artists this year all submitted ‘site specific’ work after touring the bridge as opposed to simply submitting a ‘general’ kind of proposal. So the work is all site specific and more environmental.” Go to the website to better understand what Ingenuity is: http://IngenuityCleveland.com. Streaming pictures of past events, blog posts with the latest information on related events, and ways to connect with the arts and technology community can be found there. Recent posts include extension of the Ideas Competition for Teens, MacroPhotos of Eyes, photos from Ingenuity’s Speakeasy 2.0, and the Ingenuity Online Benefit Concert.
There will be food, music, and theatrical performances in addition to original art combined with technology. You’ll be able to sample Lake Erie Fish and Chips, eat pizza presented by Pizza Bogo or other Italian specialties by Antonelli’s, enjoy Chinese from Dim and Den Sum, and feast on ice cream provided by MiMos Hand Crafted Ice Cream. This is just a sampling of the food offered during the festival. The music is varied and wonderful, but you should check out the schedule of events. Theatrical performances include Theater Ninjas’ performance of “Absence,” an “interactive performance that puts the audience in the role of the main protagonist,” and “Facebook Me” by Allison W., a “quirky play about a woman trapped in a Facebook universe.” The schedule is twenty pages long, so like the Film Festival, you’ll want to take the time to read through all the possibilities.
With so much going on, you’ll want to look at the website to decide when to visit. Levin says, “There will be so much and so many artists and exhibits that you may need two days to really experience all of the very cool stuff. Schedule your visit so you don’t miss performances and make sure you have time to savor the very spectacular exhibit that will be cascading from the street level.”
Curious? Get thee to the Ingenuity Festival at the Detroit-Superior Bridge on Fri 9/24 through Sun 9/26. View the schedule at http://IngenuityCleveland.com/schedule.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Claudia Taller, whose passion for words has led to creation of the Lakeside Word Lover’s Retreats, an outgrowth of her work with Skyline Writers.
Her favorite foods are red wine, salmon, ice cream, and chocolate. She loves to read, write, tour wineries, ride her bike, ease into yoga, and cook gourmet meals for friends. Find her at http://www.claudiatallermusings.blogspot.com.