Before you attempt to drive your ‘beamer’ into the Urban Center for Contemporary Art's (UICA) gallery space this Friday night be warned that it's not a downtown version of the Wyoming mall parking lot car cruise night for German cars.
But you would be correct in thinking it has European ties because in Europe a beamer is a projector that "beams images onto a surface," says UICA's Exhibitions Curator AJ Paschka.
‘Bring Your Own Beamer Grand Rapids’ is an international, one-night-only art exhibition with a remarkable list of filmmakers bringing fresh cinema to our city.
This event, which began in 2010 with artist Rafaël Rozendaal, has grown international after being open sourced, allowing other art centers to pick up the Bring Your Own Beamer (BYOB) brand. As a result the BYOB event has played in cities like Valparaiso, Pittsburgh, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Cape Town, and now Grand Rapids.
It is also so much more than just unspooling a film as, for this presentation, guests can expect to see a 3D projection project, a three-channel video, a hybrid analog/digital performance with real time video mixing, and a GIF with a 3D GIF signature.
UICA is the perfect venue to host this showcase because so much of this work is cutting edge cinema.
"'Bring Your Own Beamer' is unique and relevant because we are living in a time when technology has enabled new paths of expression that are derived from the technological tools of communication," says Paschka. "In a digital era that feels alien and endless, we must remember that the original computers were created to manage the patterns of the fabric industry at the beginning of the industrial revolution. The marriage of art and technology is closely woven, and is able to reflect the content, concerns, and possibilities of the contemporary era."
Updates to the artist list and artist drop-in information will be posted at uica.org/event/bring-your-own-beamer-grand-rapids/ with Santa Dremaine (Milford, MI), Parisa Ghaderi (Ann Arbor, MI), Dylan Gunnett (Grand Rapids, MI), Jeremy Knickerbocker (Grand Rapids, MI), Bia Rodrigues (Brazil), and Eric Souther (South Bend, Indiana) scheduled to project on Friday night.
BYOB does not mean bring your own beer, as it will be for sale at the event along with food provided by Tory O'Hare's award-winning Propaganda Doughnuts and a sneak taste of his latest restaurant The Bandit Queen.
Admission: Free (Underwritten by GR Current)
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