Manibus Project

I am an Interdisciplinary Artist using both scientific and aesthetic processes. I create work that explores movement, our relationship to technology, and the understanding of what it means to be human including the ways in which "humanness" can be denied. I use custom-designed technology, traditional mediums, and social interactions to foster connection. My work encourages audiences to think critically about their relationship to one another in a vast and ubiquitous digital world.

In Latin, the word Manibus means “from the hand.” I created the Manibus robotic painting device to utilize as an extension of my own artistic hand. A dancer wears a motion-sensing remote directing Manibus to render an artistic depiction of elapsed time and motion. Using this tool, I capture and translate the movement and visceral dynamics of dance into painted works of art. 

 

My work explores how participatory art can cross societal divides, break down barriers and increase empathy through tangible and embodied interactions.  Through imagination, curiosity, and courage, we can increase our self-awareness to grow introspectively and consciously thereby enabling us to better understand the experiences of others. I conduct happenings/events that encourage public participation in the performative and improvisational creation of collaborative artwork as a means to explore social structures and confirm connections to being emotionally intelligent humans.

 

I facilitate collaborative processes as a director combining the necessary components for creating the work of art. With a nod to Abstract Expressionism, I allow for spontaneity in the mark, but utilize my own set of constraints to orchestrate order in the process. I determine the scale, width of the brush, the color, the starts and stops, while resigning myself to accept some aspects of the output as they occur.  In the spirit of Happenings, I encourage the contribution of creative energy within a prescribed structure. 

 

My process yields an observable abstract representation of what has transpired. It is an opportunity to analyze the fleeting movements of dance. The works take shape as dynamic linear renderings that embody kinetic verve. Dance is transformed into a painted vestige honoring that instance in time. The lingering traces are mapped connections facilitated by social interaction, art, engineering, and technology.