Birds take flight in Wood Street Galleries

‘ ‘ ‘ According to artist Chico MacMurtrie, humans and nature are closely linked. ‘None of us… ‘ ‘ ‘ According to artist Chico MacMurtrie, humans and nature are closely linked. ‘None of us are bystanders in the natural world,’ said MacMurtrie. And yet, despite our interdependence, people haven’t always been so kind to nature.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ This idea, that humans have a sometimes adverse effect on nature after overstepping their bounds, along with the notion that no organism lives independently of all others, portrays the meaning of ‘Sixteen Birds and Architectural Body.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ This free exhibit was created by Chico MacMurtrie and is on display at the Wood Street Galleries until April 4. ‘ ‘ ‘ Upon entering the Wood Street Galleries building, visitors travel to the second floor to catch a glimpse of the first segment on display. Stepping out of the elevator, the audience is greeted by a white, almost sterile-feeling room.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Hanging from the center of the ceiling is a huge piece of architecture, nearly, but not quite, touching the ground. It is a geometric, crystalline structure, constructed from a fabric called ‘Tedlar’ and anchored by coils of odd-looking tubes.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ The room itself almost comes alive. As MacMurtrie said in a statement, ‘The pneumatic mechanism that animates the work creates a constant, rhythmic breathing sound.’ Called ‘Inflatable Architectural Body,’ the exhibit first appeared to the public in Madrid, Spain in an exhibition titled ‘Machines and Souls.” The piece is representative of the makeup of life and is ‘a magnification of the cellular world,’ according to the Wood Street Galleries Web site.’ It continually repositions its inflated fabric arms, or ‘bones,’ so-called by MacMurtrie, in response to the audience’s movement around it.’ As the sensors within the structure pick up on the presence of a person, they cause the piece to shrink back from its observer. However, if one spends enough time truly observing the human and machine interaction, ‘each bone can be selectively animated by the viewers’ movements, allowing for endless interactive possibilities,’ said MacMurtrie. ‘With this kind of robotic work, there are a lot of different components, including a hydraulics and a computer programming system,’ said Curt Riegelnegg, art installer and gallery attendant at the Wood Street Galleries.’ A working harmony between all of these systems was, according to Riegelnegg, a challenge for the artist and his team to achieve. After viewing ‘Inflatable Architectural Body,’ the audience’s journey is only halfway complete. The second part of the exhibit, known simply as ‘Sixteen Birds,’ is waiting on the next floor up. ‘ ‘Sixteen Birds’ is a display of birdlike creations, each of which hangs from the ceiling, one after the other in a winding line. This segment of the exhibit, like the other, stresses the huge impact that all living organisms have on one another, as each of the birds experiences a pseudo-lifecycle, the end of which is expedited by the excessive encroachment of visitors into the birds’ space.’ The birds are made of the same lightweight material utilized in making ‘Inflatable Architectural Body’ ‘mdash; a fabric that is often used in making boat sails, according to Riegelnegg.’ Art installer and gallery attendant Ian Brill said that the Tedlar fabric is ‘resilient due to its crisscrossed, woven texture and therefore allows for easier unraveling. The stress is more easily distributed.’ According to Brill, the artist came up with the concept of the exhibit, also devising a functional method to bring it into being, however, a small group of professional computer programmers helped him bring the works to life.’ ‘I think he was testing the limits of what he could do. He started with the birds, and the architectural body was the next phase,’ said Riegelnegg.