Year of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Other Degree Name/Area of Focus

Studio Arts

Department or School/College

College of Visual and Performing Arts

Committee Chair

Elizabeth Dove

Commitee Members

Brad Allen, Rafael Chacon, MaryAnn Bonjorni, Mike Monsos

Keywords

art, performance, spectacle

Publisher

University of Montana

Abstract

i. A Synthetic Spring will be to serve the public as an encounter rather than an art object. ii. The actual event will be free and open to the public, and will only last two hours. iii. The aim is to create something precious and rare. This exclusiveness is a reaction to the twenty-first century’s fascination with identity through the online appearance, the viral video, the text message, the twitter posting, the sound byte, the Internet meme, binge online shopping, etc. iv. In the greater scope, the event will technically begin with the use of promotion several months before the actual event. The promotion will take all shapes and forms, both digitally and physically. We will lure spectators visually, sonically, socially, and psychologically, by creating hype, mystery, anticipation, and curiosity. v. A Synthetic Spring will be a mixture of everything we have seen before, and nothing we have seen before. vi. A Synthetic Spring will be a constructed situation and outcomes will vary. vii. A Synthetic Spring will be experimental and challenging by necessity. viii. A Synthetic Spring offers a dichotomous contribution; through the celebration of the artificial, the genuine will surface. A significant amount of the participants will not fully acknowledge this experience. ix. The art of composing comedy is the same sort of thing as the art of composing tragedy. x. A Synthetic Spring takes shape when we are all becoming its actors.

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© Copyright 2013 John Metcalf