We were MAD for the Museum of Arts and Design

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During our recent visit to the Big Apple, we made sure to get our art fix by visiting several popular museums, including the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD). The mission of MAD is to collect, display, and interpret objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the Museum celebrates the creative process through which materials are crafted into works that enhance contemporary life.

As dedicated lovers of art and music, we were fortunate to visit during the Sonic Arcade: Shaping Space with Sound exhibition, a multi-component exhibition featuring interactive installations, immersive environments, and performing objects that explore how the ephemeral and abstract nature of sound is made material. Sonic Arcade featured solo projects by Arjen Noordeman and Christie Wright, Louise Foo and Martha Skou, MSHR, and Julianne Swartz, whose project ‘Sine Body, was inspired by the Buddhist singing bowl, a standing bell that is frequently used to mark meditation or to accompany funeral rites.

We then made our way to the ‘Artist Studios’, an awesome level that hosts artists and designers daily as they produce their work in a live studio environment. We were fortunate enough to meet the lovely and talented, Kathleen McDermott, a media artist with a background in installation and sculpture.

She combines her knowledge of fabrication and sculpture with open-source hardware to build a language of absurdity, using homemade electronic hardware experiments in a storytelling practice sometimes referred to as “performance with robots,” or “critical wearable practice.” She is interested in technologies that are not productive, robots badly suited to absurd purposes and electronic creations beyond her control. A recurring theme in her work has been the relationship between technology, the body, and personal and public space. I mean, one word…Robots. She was rad!


Other exhibiting artists include:

Mariana Garibay Raeke, Mixed Media Sculpture, Tuesday

Tai Hwa Goh, Printmaking, Design, Installation, Wednesday

Rachel Frank, Mixed Media Sculpture, Performance, Friday

Heidi Lau, Ceramic Sculpture, Paper Sculpture, Saturday

Christa Pratt, Painting, Mixed Media, Sunday

Ilana Harris-Babou, Performance, Mixed Media Installation, Tuesday – Saturday

Women were truly the highlight of these exhibitions and that really inspired us. If you’re in the New York area, be sure to pay a visit to MAD to see these incredible and futuristic installations in person.

Photos courtesy of The Museum of Arts and Design.

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