Ayers Island Hosting Artists’ Convergence for Experiments in Art, Culture, Technology
Contact: Peter Rottmann at 866-2619; George Manlove at 581-3756
ORONO — The cavernous 360,000-square-foot complex on Ayers Island, which has housed lumber, paper and textile mills in the Basin Mills area of Orono, is the site of the first Ayers Island Contemporary Arts Festival, “Without Borders,” Aug. 21-Sept. 15.
The event is described as a convergence of emerging new artists and artwork and involves artists from England, Canada, France and Maine. The festival opens informally on Aug. 21, with official opening performances scheduled Sunday, Aug. 22, from noon to midnight with music, food and a celebration of contemporary, cultural and technological art.
“We hope to present to the state of Maine something I think is really unique and exciting,” says co-organizer Owen Smith, the newly appointed chair of the UMaine New Media Department.
The festival is expected to be an annual or biannual gathering place for people exploring diverse forms of contemporary art and cultural expression, most specifically art that uses technology in production or presentation.
Principal organizers include George Markowsky, chair of the UMaine Computer Sciences Department, Peter Rottmann, formerly a boat builder and manager of a software and computer services company, and John Hackney, a former professor at the University of South Florida Medical School. They also are officers in Ayers Island, LLC, which owns the 60-acre island in the Penobscot River on which the old mill sits. Markowsky and Rottmann are officers of Trefoil Corporation, a private software and computer consulting firm on Ayers Island.
Ayers Island, LLC is working in collaboration with several University of Maine professors from art, music, new media and computer science departments, who envision the festival will be a catalyst for new artistic development in the region.
“We aim to bring a wide variety of international artists to Maine while at the same time showcasing local and national art and culture,” Markowsky says.
Festival highlights include emerging international, national and local artists in an eclectic array of music, performance, poetry, film and exhibition programs. The main exhibition includes a variety of installation sculptures using new technologies, performances, live music and poetry readings, video screenings and workshops.
Free and open to the public, organizers expect hundreds of people of all ages and interests to visit during the three-week exhibit and see the type of new art that is emerging with assistance of technology — normally work accessible only in major cities, Smith says.
“It will be a nice event and give visitors something to do in Orono,” Smith says. The rambling mill building, in a state of partial renovation, will be aesthetically “perfect” for the festival, he adds. Ayers Island is accessible by a quaint one-lane bridge.
Events of opening day include indoor and outdoor activities: fish tacos on the grill at noon; improvisational music at 1 p.m. by Niagara Falls, an experimental jam band from Philadelphia; video-art screening at 2 p.m.; a sound and visual performance at 4 p.m. by composer and UMaine music Professor Beth Wiemann; a fire extinguisher bells performance at 5 p.m. by central Maine artist and musician Peter Bosse; a wine reception to mark the festival opening at 6 p.m.; and an interactive performance (percussive patterns triggered by a singer’s hand motions when tracked by a camera) by MAP & DM Ingalls, a Maine poet and instrumentalist, at 7 p.m.
About 20 performers or artists, including several UMaine students or recent graduates, will participate.
“We feel the festival will prompt an awareness of and create a sustained demand for contemporary forms of the visual, literary and performing arts,” Markowsky says. “It has real potential to act as a stimulus for artistic innovation and provide a pivotal springboard for many artistic careers, in the state of Maine and beyond.”
The festival is supported financially by state and local businesses, and involves collaborations with the Universite du Quebec