Life @ Otis : Faculty Life : Faculty Development

Susan Barnet

2005-06 Faculty Development Grant

Mario's Furniture
a collaboration by S.E. Barnet and Hillary Mushkin
with programmer Clay Chaplin and electronics specialist Lorin Parker

Thanks to the support of Otis, the Mushkin-Barnet project Mario's Furniture will be exhibited at Telic Arts Exchange on Chung King Road in Los Angeles from October 28 through Dec 2, 2006. The project could not have been realized without the funding that allowed us to complete the crucial technical aspects of wireless interactivity and vision recognition programming.

At summer’s end 2005 we were invited to turn the Bolsky Gallery in the Galef Fine Arts building into an arts laboratory. The Bolsky became a workspace for developing our interactive project. We began to work on the video recognition programming as well as test out sensors for the wireless technology. Being within the Otis community allowed constant access to an eager and interested audience, an essential part of our trials.

In the fall of 2005 Mario’s Furniture was in residence at The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. At this point the game was far enough along, thanks to our stay at the Bolsky, to be able to invite curators to take a look at the work. After their initial visit, Telic Arts Exchange invited us to exhibit Mario’s Furniture at their space. (See Press Release)

One of the best aspects of the exhibition of Mario’s Furniture at Telic is the additional events schedule. The gallery curators have asked us to host events throughout the duration of the exhibition that will afford us an opportunity to contextualize the project through guest speakers, screenings, and the presentation of other artwork.

Finally, in the coming months UK publishers Intellect Books’ new volume on video games and art will be available. This work includes Art theorist/critic M.A. Greenstein’s essay on Mario’s Furniture.