MAPs @ OZ Poddy Award Winners!

It’s time for the second edition of the Poddy Awards, the contest where we ask pod artists to vote on their favorite pods. About half of the OZ Art Fest pod builders responded to our call.  Results are below.

Winners of “Best Overall Pod” and categories other than best-in-each-level will receive a 3D printed award. Best-in-each-level winners will receive a certificate.

To see photos of the winning pods, have a look at the Artist Guide and the galleries.

And the winners are…

Best Level

Winner: Unseen Worlds

Runner-Up: R&D

Best Pod in “The Sound of Colors”

Winner: (tie) Big Guise (Alexine Rioux, Mika Agari, and Kayla Saito), Erica Ciccarone
Runner-up: (tie) Kit Reuther, Paul Cain

Best Pod in “Explorers”

Winner: Phillip Granke
Runner-up: (tie) Lain York, Brian Somerville

Best Pod in “Spies”

Winner: Sarah McDonald and Tyler Blankenship
Runner-up: Jaime Raybin and Briena Harmening

Best Pod in “Echoes”

Winner: Travis Janssen and Alex Lopez

Runner-up: Mary Mooney

Best Pod in “Light Into Darkness”

Winner: Brown Dog Bindery (Jennifer Knowles)

Runner-up: Zach Duensing

Best Pod in “Trials”

Winner: Abbey Skojec
Runner-up: (tie) Matthew Batty, Patricia Earnhardt and Elizabeth Sanford

Best Pod in “Play”

Winner: Amanda Joy Brown and Kyle Jones

Runner-up: Brian Somerville and Will Somerville

Best Pod in “Endless Forms”

Winner: Alexis Colbert

Runner-up: Sara Lederach

Best Pod in “Unseen Worlds”

Winner: Beth Reitmeyer and ELEL

Runner-up: (tie) Ashley Adkins and Leah Sawyer, Ariel Lavery and Christopher Lavery

Best Pod in “R&D”

Winner: Middle Tennessee Robotic Arts Society

Runner-up: Molly Lahym and Dylan Ethier

Most Original

Winner: Jaime Raybin and Briena Harmening

Runner-up: (tie)  Ariel Lavery and Christopher Lavery, Phillip Granke

Best Inside/Outside Interactivity

Winner: Amanda Joy Brown and Kyle Jones

Runner-up: M Kelley and Stephen Zerne

Best Exterior

Winner: Brian Somerville and Will Somerville

Runner-up: Beth Reitmeyer and ELEL

Best Soundtrack

Winner: (tie) Jaime Raybin and Briena Harmening, Molly Lahym and Dylan Ethier

Runner-up: (tie) Beth Reitmeyer and ELEL, Gordon Roque

Best Tech

Winner: Molly Lahym and Dylan Ethier

Runner-up: (tie) Jenn Deafenbaugh and Make Nashville, Middle Tennessee Robotic Arts Society

Best Story

Winner: Abbey Skojec

Runner-up: (tie) Jason Brown and the Postal Provocateurs, Brian Somerville and Will Somerville

Best Concept

Winner: Beth Reitmeyer and ELEL

Runner-up: (5-way tie) Abbey Skojec, Paul Cain, M Kelley and Stephen Zerne, Ariel Lavery and Christopher Lavery,  Sarah McDonald and Tyler Blankenship

Most Professional Build

Winner: Brian Somerville and Will Somerville

Runner-up: Ariel Lavery and Christopher Lavery

Best in Show

Winner: Beth Reitmeyer and ELEL

Second place: Brian Somerville and Will Somerville

Third place: Sarah McDonald and Tyler Blankenship

Beth Reitmeyer and ELEL

MAPs at OZ Art Fest Artist Guide

Here’s a handy reference to help match your favorite pods with their makers. If the map is too small, middle-mouse-click it to open it in a new tab.

1. Jovanni Luna
2. Erica Ciccarone
3. Paul Cain
4. Big Guise
5. Trey Gossett
6. Jonathan Lisenby
7. Kit Reuther
8. Lain York
9. Brian Somerville
10. Phillip Granke
11. Jim DeVault
12. Gordon Roqué
13. Full Scale Millennium Falcon Project
14. Osvaldo Gonzalez
15. Paul Cain
16. Sarah McDonald, Tyler Blankenship
17. Briena Harmening and Jaime Raybin
18. Jason Brown & the Postal Provacateurs
19. Mary Mooney
20. Travis Janssen and Alex Lopez
21. Performance Pod

22. Antonia Oakes, Joe Nolan
23. Brandon Greer
24. Zach Duensing
25. Brown Dog Bindery (Jennifer Knowles
26. Jamin Orrall
27. Beth Inglish
28. Matt Fox, Ben Clark
29. Ellie Caudill
30. Liz Clayton Scofield
31. Amanda Brown and Kyle Jones
32. Brian & Will Somerville
33. Matthew Batty
34. Abbey Skojec
35. Patricia Earnhardt, Elizabeth Sanford
36. George Miller, Vivian Saxon
37. Mia Krout, Ben Marcantel, Ryan Norris, Christine Rogers
38. Sarah Cozort
39. Alexis Colbert
40. Chip Boles

41. Rachel de Cuba
42. Sara Lederach
43. Ariel & Chris Lavery
44. Ashley Adkins, Leah Sawyer
45. Emily Holt
46. Clayton Landiss
47. Beth Reitmeyer
48. Emily Sue Laird
49. Carla Ciuffo. Tanya Butler, Dee Simpson
50. Tony Youngblood
51. M Kelley and Stephen Zerne (part 1)
52. Becky Fox & Dave Matthews
53. Molly Lahym, Dylan Ethier
54. M Kelley, Stephen Zerne (part 2)
55. Middle Tennesee Robotic Arts Society
56. Jennifer Deafenbaugh, Make Nashville

Pod Levels:

1-7: The Sound of Colors
8-13: Explorers
14-18: Spies
19-21: Echoes

22-25: Light Into Darkness
26-32: Play
33-37: Trials

38-42: Endless Forms
43-49: Unseen Worlds
50-56: R&D

 

 

 

Ashley Adkins and Leah Sawyer

Matthew Batty

Big Guise

Chip Boles

Amanda Joy Brown and Kyle Jones

Brown Dog Bindery

Jason Brown and the Postal Provocateurs

Paul Cain

Ellie Caudill

Erica Ciccarone

Carla Ciuffo + Stasis Universe; Sooner or Later with Tanya Butler and Dee Simpson

Ben Clark and Matt Fox

Alexis Colbert

Sarah Cozort, Tom George, and Bobby Gray

Rachel de Cuba

Jennifer Deafenbaugh and Make Nashville

Jim DeVault

Zach Duensing

Patricia Earnhardt and Elizabeth Sanford

Beth Reitmeyer and ELEL

Dylan Ethier and Molly Lahym

The Full Scale Millennium Falcon Project

Osvaldo Gonzalez

Trey Gossett

Phillip Granke

Brandon Greer

Briena Harmening and Jaime Raybin

Emily Holt

Beth Inglish

Travis Janssen and Alex Lopez

M Kelley and Stephen Zerne

Photo by Sarah McDonald

Mia Krout, Ben Marcantel , Ryan Norris, and Christine Rogers

Emily Sue Laird and Jake Wells

Clayton Landiss

Ariel Lavery and Christopher Lavery

Sara Lederach

Jonathan Lisenby

Photo by Jonathan Lisenby

Jovanni Luna

Becky Fox Matthews and Dave Matthews

Sarah McDonald and Tyler Blankenship

Middle Tennessee Robotic Arts Society

George Miller and Vivian Saxon

Mary Mooney

Antonia Oakes and Joe Nolan

Jamin Orrall

Performance Pod

Kit Reuther

Gordon Roqué

Liz Clayton Scofield

Abbey Skojec

Brian Somerville

Brian Somerville and Will Somerville

Lain York

Tony Youngblood

MAPs at OZ Art Fest is a Wrap!

Pod by Brown Dog Bindery (Jennifer Knowles)

That’s a wrap, folks! I feel an enormous sense of gratitude to everyone who made Modular Art Pods a reality — from the bountiful support of Lauren Snelling, Rus Snelling, and everyone at OZ Arts Nashville; to all of our generous sponsors (who I will mention individually in a moment); to Nashville Arts Magazine, The Nashville Scene, The Tennessean, and Nashville Public Radio for their excellent coverage; and, of course, to all the attendees who made this show a success.

Pod by Brian Somerville and Will Somerville

But I am especially thankful to the artists and performers who built this strange, ephemeral city, brick by brick. Modular Art Pods is their show. I only guided.

Thank you Ashley Adkins and Leah Sawyer, Matthew Batty, Big Guise (Mike Agari, Alexine Rioux, Kayla Saito), Chip Boles, Amanda Joy Brown and Kyle Jones, Brown Dog Bindery, Jason Brown and the Postal Provocateurs, Paul Cain, Ellie Caudill, Erica Ciccarone, Carla Ciuffo + Stasis Universe / Sooner or Later with Tanya Butler and Dee Simpson, Ben Clark and Matt Fox, Alexis Colbert, Sarah Cozort / Tom George / Bobby Gray, Rachel de Cuba, Jennifer Deafenbaugh and Make Nashville, Jim DeVault, Zach Duensing, Patricia Earnhardt and Elizabeth Sanford, ELEL and Beth Reitmeyer, Dylan Ethier and Molly Lahym, The Full Scale Millennium Falcon Project, Osvaldo Gonzalez, Trey Gossett, Phillip Granke, Brandon Greer, Briena Harmening and Jaime Raybin, Emily Holt, Beth Inglish, Travis Janssen and Alex Lopez, M Kelley and Stephen Zerne, Mia Krout / Ben Marcantel / Ryan Norris / Christine Rogers, Emily Sue Laird and Jake Wells, Clayton Landiss, Ariel Lavery and Christopher Lavery, Sara Lederach, Jonathan Lisenby, Jovanni Luna, Becky Fox Matthews and Dave Matthews, MaxZine, Sarah McDonald and Tyler Blankenship, Middle Tennessee Robotic Arts Society, George Miller and Vivian Saxon, Mary Mooney, Joe Nolan and Antonia Oakes, Jamin Orrall, Kit Reuther, Gordon Roqué, Liz Clayton Scofield, Abbey Skojec, Brian Somerville and Will Somerville, Lain York, Rebekah Alexander, Andri Alexandrou, Tye Bellar / Ben Marcantel / Seth West / Trey Suiter, Blue Stocking (Ashley Lawless and Janelle Bonfour-Mikes), chatterbird (led by Celine Thackston), Aubrey Derryberry, Dig Deep Light Show, Oliver Dodd / Andrew Pigue / Taylor Thurman, White Orchard Theatre Company, droneroom / Jane Boxall / Brady Sharp, Marlos E’van, Dustin Hedrick and Ali Katt, Madeleine Hicks and Paul Kintzing, MKAV (Mike Kluge Audio Visual), N&XT (led by Lindsay Goranson), Colleen Phelps, Sideshow @ Actors Bridge (led by Jessika Malone), and Brian Siskind.

Pod by ELEL and Beth Reitmeyer

Below, you’ll find links to pictures and videos that I recorded from the event. But first, I’d like to mention our sponsors whose funds helped defray the cost of building the pods. Thank you Jeffrey C. Lynch, The Home Depot 100 Oaks, Thomas and Patricia King, Leslie Boone, Gail Danner, Delevante Creative, Patricia M. Farr, John Holleman, Gavin Ivester, Pamela Johnson, Jenny Alexander, Andrew Burd, Colin_circuit_bender, Stephanie and Forrest Conner, Kristy Edmunds, Fivestone Studios, Christa George / Chris Wood / Zoe Wood, Alp Ikizler, Rozmond Lewis, Helga and Andrea Maneschi, The Red Arrow Gallery, Mclaine Richardson and Margaret Ellis Jewelry, Andee Rudloff, Rus and Lauren Snelling, Sarah Toyoda, Diana Johnson Wiles, and Wayne and Phyllis Youngblood.

Pod by Gordon Roqué

We don’t have any immediate plans to host another Modular Art Pods, but there’s a good chance we’ll put one on every few years. In the meantime, Queen Avenue Art Collective is considering hosting one of their own for next year. If you’d like to host a MAPs in your city, please contact me at tonyyoungblood@gmail.com.

Click the links below to see media from the show.

Videos from MAPs @ OZ Art Fest.

Pictures from MAPs @ OZ Art Fest.

Saturday at MAPs Your TV Will Watch YOU! + Closing Night Celebration

Your TV Is Watching preview

Saturday, June 25 is your last chance to experience Modular Art Pods at OZ Art Fest. We have so many great things planned, including a performance by N&XT where your TV watches YOU, a live light show featuring Dig Deep with music by Ben Marcantel and droneroom, an intimate immersive performance by White Orchard Theatre, and swing dancing in the Dome with the Nashville Jitterbugs! Don’t miss it! Exhibit is open from 11am to 9pm. Cost for the full OZ Art Fest, including live music outside, food trucks, and several other gallery shows is $20. Full schedule is below. And now, videos!

Saturday, June 25, 2016 Performances at Modular Art Pods at OZ Art Fest:

Echoes Pod

2-4pm: Your TV Is Watching by N&XT
4-6pm: Ben Marcantel, Tye Bellar, and Seth West with visuals by Dig Deep Light Show
6-8pm: droneroom, Jane Boxall, Brady Sharp, and Stephen Seifert with visuals by Dig Deep Light Show

Water Rings Pod

4-6pm: Andri Alexandrou
6-8pm Aubrey Derryberry

Geodesic Dome

3:30-4:30pm: Nashville Jitterbugs (swing dancing)
5pm-8pm: White Orchard Theater presents Polar North 1955

Andri Alexandrou live at Modular Art Pods

Saturday Performer Bios:

Andri Alexandrou

Human transference — be it conversation, story, or secret — in an intimate setting.

droneroom (Blake Conley with Jane Boxall, Brady Sharp, and Stephen Seifert)

Improvised drone music with a rotating cast of collaborators.

Aubrey Derryberry

Site-specific, improvisation-driven performance art that explores the interplay between healer/afflicted, movement /stasis, and wholeness/fragmentation.

Your TV Is Watching by N&XT (Led by Lindsay Goranson)

N&XT presents “Your TV is Watching.” Are you the audience? Or are you the entertainment? Find out in this singular performance piece.

Ben Marcantel with Tye Bellar,  Seth West, and Ryan Norris (spiritual guidance)

Marcantel and crew will use multiple loops and original content samples to create continually changing sound structures.

Dig Deep Light Show (Scott Sanders, Brian Miles, Megan Curtin. Derek Schartung)

Liquid light show using overhead projectors, moire fabric, colored oil and water.

White Orchard Theater

“Polar North, 1955” is a story of innocence, wilderness, exploration, romance, and industrial-age consumerism told by an arctic explorer and his lover, through a series of letters. This short piece combines live performance with motion illustration. It will be projected into the Digital Dome.

 

Don’t Miss Modular Art Pods Thursday Night Things at OZ Arts Nashville!

chatterbird live at Modular Art Pods @ OZ Arts Nashville

It’s been a spectacular two days at Modular Art Pods at OZ Arts Nashville, with amazing pods, great performances, and huge turnouts. Tomorrow night (Thursday, June 23rd) from 6 to 9 p.m., we’re pulling out all the stops for TNT edition. During Thursday Night Things, we’ll have a greater frequency of performances and special interactions with pod builders. For example, you’ll be able to see a dancing octopus with Madeleine Hicks and Paul Kintzing; a butoh-inspired, egg-splatt-tacular performance piece by Blue Stocking; intimate moments with Andri Alexandrou, and a choose-your-own-adventure play with Sideshow Ensemble. And that’s just a tiny glimpse of all the cool things happening at MAPs TNT. Check out the full schedule below. But first, videos!

Echoes (Pod 23)

Thursday Night Things, 6/23/2016
6:00pm – 6:30pm	6:30pm – 7pm	7:00pm – 7:30pm	7:30pm – 8pm	8:00pm – 8:30pm	8:30pm – 9pm
Mike Kluge	Blue Stocking	Rebekah Alexander	Aubrey Derryberry	Brian Siskind	Madeleine Hicks and Paul Kintzing

Water Rings (Pod 6)

Thursday Night Things, 6/23/2016
6:00pm – 6:30pm	6:30pm – 7pm	7:00pm – 7:30pm	7:30pm – 8pm	8:00pm – 8:30pm	8:30pm – 9pm
Andri Alexandrou	Andri Alexandrou	Big Guise	Colleen Phelps	Sideshow	Sideshow

Aubrey Derryberry live at Modular Art Pods @ OZ

Performers:

Rebekah Alexander

Live solo vocal pieces intertwined with theatrical monologues and chance compositions with audience interaction.

Andri Alexandrou

Human transference — be it conversation, story, or secret — in an intimate setting.

Big Guise (Alexine Rioux, Mika Agari, and Kayla Saito)

Investigators of short-term connection. Food will be shared. Records will be taken.

Aubrey Derryberry

Site-specific, improvisation-driven performance art that explores the interplay between healer/afflicted, movement /stasis, and wholeness/fragmentation.

Madeleine Hicks and Paul Kintzing

As Kintzing plays steel drum, Hicks will perform a silent play about the life and death of an aquarium-imprisoned octopus, complete with octopus costume handmade by local designer Nic Magee.

Blue Stocking (Ashley Lawless and Janelle Bonfour-Mikes)

Movement art that is a blend of physical theater, modern dance and Japanese Butoh. Eggs will be set out on the floor in the pattern of Venus’s path around the sun. The performers will walk the path 13 times, each time presenting a different story, a different viewpoint, and a different moment in time.

Sideshow Ensemble (Jessika Malone & Co.)

Progressive performance artist in the style of “choose your own adventure.”

Colleen Phelps

Classical percussion constrained by the small parameters of the pod.

Brian Siskind

Live sound made of old records and field recordings stitched into collage with beats.

MKAV (Mike Kluge Audio Visual)

Synchronization system performance; audio will trigger projections and physical light devices that correspond to the audio’s spectral and dynamic information.

 

MAPs Opens June 21st!

Mary Mooney

We’re less than a week away from Modular Art Pods at OZ Art Fest! The exhibition opens Tuesday, July 21st at 11 a.m. The first two days are FREE. See the full hours, performance schedule, and ticket information here.

Here are some more progress pics.

Amanda Joy Brown and Kyle Jones

Jim DeVault

Jason Brown

Jaime Raybin and Briena Harmening

Jaime Raybin and Briena Harmening

Full Scale Millennium Falcon Project

Scenes from Make Nashville

Carla Ciuffo + Stasis Universe; Sooner or Later with Tanya Butler and Dee Simpson

Carla Ciuffo + Stasis Universe; Sooner or Later with Tanya Butler and Dee Simpson

Carla Ciuffo + Stasis Universe; Sooner or Later with Tanya Butler and Dee Simpson

Becky Fox Matthews and Dave Matthews

Becky Fox Matthews and Dave Matthews

Jenn Deafenbaugh and Make Nashville

Jenn Deafenbaugh and Make Nashville

Leah Sawyer and Ashley Adkins

Leah Sawyer and Ashley Adkins

Emily Sue Laird

Emily Sue Laird

Great Things Happening at OZ Art Fest

Modular Art Pods is thrilled to be a part of OZ Art Fest, the inaugural, weeklong, multi-disciplinary arts festival that will become a biennial event. In addition to MAPs (which you can learn about here), there are a number of installations and events. For example:

Vicariously Speaking by Addam Yekutieli (aka KNOW HOPE)

Description from the OZ Arts project page:

Commissioned by OZ Arts for OZ Art Fest, this project incorporates Yekutieli’s correspondences with inmates in Nashville prisons into text-based works extracted from letters, placed on eight billboards throughout the city. By taking these phrases out of their original context and placing them in a new one, a newborn presence for the inmates takes place in public space and a dialogue within an interactive environment is created between two separate realities.

The billboard works have been photographed by Yekutieli in the context of their new urban surroundings. These images will be paired in a diptych with the letter from which the featured text originated, and exhibited in the entrance hallway gallery at OZ Arts throughout the festival and the month following. 

Vicariously Speaking will be exhibited June 21st – August 31st.

Inside Out by French street artist JR

You might know JR from his recent disappearing act. He hid the Louvre Pyramid in plain site by covering it with images of the background museum. Now the iconic street artists bring his global portrait project to Nashville.

Description from the OZ Arts project page:

In a truck traveling photo booth, people get the opportunity to share their portraits and, by extension, their stories. To date, more than 130 countries worldwide have participated, with a unique theme in each setting, transforming messages of personal identity into works of public art. The OZ Art Fest iteration of Inside Out, on the theme of “inclusion,” will visit three Nashville neighborhoods, on June 21, 22 and 23. The community will be invited to have their photographic portraits taken and instantly printed as giant posters. These posters will be combined to create a mural collage in that community, and participants can be emailed a file of their portrait. On June 24 and 25, the truck will park at OZ Arts, where new portraits will be taken, printed and combined with those reprinted from around the city in a massive mural mounted onto the roof and exterior of the building—a lasting portrait of Nashville.

INSIDE OUT TIMES & PRICING:
Tuesday | 10am – 4pm | Casa Azafrán (2195 Nolensville Pike) | Free Admission
Wednesday | 10am-4pm | Location TBD | Free Admission
Thursday | 10am-4pm | Meharry Medical College (DR. D. B. Todd Blvd.) | Free Admission
Friday – Saturday | 11am – 9pm | $20 for Adults/ Under 12 Free
-$20 ticket covers both Friday & Saturday admission-

OZ Art Fest will also feature live performances by Paul Birch and the WPA Ballclub and The Great Aspirations of Sun Conductor. Check the schedule below and get tickets for the paid events at the OZ Art Fest site.

OZ is located at 6172 Cockrill Bend Cir, Nashville, TN 37209.

June 21 – 25, 2016

Special Performances: Friday–Saturday | June 24–25, 2016 | 5 PM–Late

*Bring Blankets & Chairs for the Lawn!

Featured Food Trucks: Califarmia (Fri 5-9pm), Trailer Perk (Fri 5-9pm), New Hickory (Sat 12-3pm) and Four & Twenty Blackbirds (Sat 4-7pm)

Tuesday, June 21 – Free Admission

10:00 – 4:00 p.m.  |  Inside Out Project at Casa Azafrán (2195 Nolensville Pike)

11:00 – 8:00 p.m.  |  MAPs and Vicariously Speaking

1:00 – 2:00 p.m.  |  Artist Talk: Addam Yekutieli (aka Know Hope)

2:00 – 8:00 p.m.  |  MAPs Performances

Wednesday, June 22  – Free Admission

10:00 – 4:00 p.m.  |  Inside Out – Location TBD

11:00 – 8:00 p.m.  |  MAPs and Vicariously Speaking

1:00 – 2:00 p.m.  |  Artist Talk: Tony Youngblood + select artists

2:00 – 8:00 p.m.  |  MAPs Performances

Thursday, June 23

10:00 – 4:00 p.m.  |  Inside Out Project at Meharry Medical College (DR. D. B. Todd Blvd.)

11:00 – 5:00 p.m.  |  MAPs and Vicariously Speaking

1:00 – 2:00 p.m.  |  Artist Talk: Paul Burch, Brooke Waggoner & Eric Hillman

5:00 – 6:00 p.m.  |  MAPs CLOSED

6:00 – 9:00 p.m.  |  TNT feat. Tony Youngblood’s MAPs | $15

Friday, June 24 – $20 for Adults/ Under 12 Free
-$20 ticket covers both Friday & Saturday admission-

11:00 – 9:00 p.m.  |  MAPs and Vicariously Speaking

1:00 – 2:00 p.m.  |  Artist Talk: Daren Strange & Lauren Walker

2:00 – 8:00 p.m.  |  MAPs Performances

7:00 – 9:00 p.m.  |  PERFORMANCE (Paul Burch and the WPA Ballclub)

Saturday, June 25 – $20 for Adults/ Under 12 Free
-$20 ticket covers both Friday & Saturday admission-

11:00 – 9:00 p.m.  |  MAPs, Vicariously Speaking, and Inside Out Project

1:00 – 2:00 p.m.  |  Artist Talk: Inside Out Project Artists

2:00 – 8:00 p.m.  |  MAPs Performances

7:00 – 9:00 p.m.  |  PERFORMANCE (The Great Aspirations of Sun Conductor)