Starr Gallery’s Anna Shapiro
Helps Produce Sept. 21 iKatun
Installation “Paradise”
By Susie Davidson
Advocate Correspondent
BOSTON - In their latest
interactive, artistically-engineered presentation, the iKatun Collective of
artists and technologists presents “Paradise” at the Boston Center
for the Arts’ Leland Center from Sept. 18–25. The opening reception
for the installation will be Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. at the Mills Gallery, located
at 539 Tremont St., Boston.
iKatun’s Paradise is based
on Dante’s Paradise from the Divine Comedy. “However,”
says iKatun co-founder Catherine
D’Ignazio, “It’s not about perfect morality but about perfect
information. iKatun’s Paradise alludes to a faultless model of
information to which all media systems aspire and a space where entropy does
not exist. Visitors to the Paradise installation walk through labyrinths of
white fabric and minimalist soundscapes to reach a large grid of LED lights
controlled by a computer program.”
Instrumental in the creation of
this impressive LED (light emission diode) board, where patterns change and
evolve based on the visitor’s voice, was Anna Shapiro, the Assistant Director of the Leventhal-Sidman
JCC’s Starr Gallery. Shapiro has been a creative consultant to iKatun
since its inception. “As an installation artist myself,” she
explains, “I’ve been helping with the development of the creation
of these immersive exhibits. In this one, the viewer becomes part of the active
element.”
The production, a collaboration of
10 local artists, programmers and engineers, will be presented in conjunction
with the South End Open Studios weekend and other exhibits at the Mills Gallery
and the Cyclorama. Shapiro will be at the opening and at much of its run.
The Starr Gallery, which is open to all ages, supports and
showcases Jewish art and artists in its educational and informative portrayals
of Jewish culture and identity. Shapiro helped write
the text for the Starr’s self-directed guide “Curating Kids”,
which is customized to each individual exhibit in both Hebrew and English. She
helps curate the gallery’s shows, contacts artists and coordinates
volunteers. “We’re an intrinsic part of the cultural arts
department at the JCC,” she says. “Often JCC theater productions
are selected to complement ongoing Starr exhibits. For example, a Jan.-March
2003 show on immigration will be augmented a number of plays at the theater on
the immigration experience.”
Upcoming Starr events include a
Sept. 25 Special Kids’ Tea with Sholem Aleichem stories read by actress
Naava Piatka at 3:30 p.m., and an Oct. 16 talk at 3:30 p.m. with Russian art
collector Boris Fridman on the work of Grigory Inger which will be sponsored by
the Mass. Cultural Council in cooperation with the Joint Action Committee for
the Russian Speaking Community.
A NYC native, Shapiro studied
Judaica at Chicago’s Spertus College, and took Women in Judaism
coursework at Tufts University. As a change from the high-tech atmosphere of
much of her installation work, she is spending the High Holidays with my family
at Temple Beth El in Bangor, Maine, “because the family also enjoys
praying in an environment of great beauty as contrasted to the hustle and
bustle of New York City.”
iKatun, located at 21 Symphony Rd.
in Boston and co-founded in 2000 by D’Ignazio and Savic Rasovic, creates
multimedia, installation, and performance artworks in physical space and
cyberspace. “Paradise” will be open to the public at the Leland
Center, 541 Tremont St., Boston, 617-426-5000, from Sept. 18–26. Weekdays
hours are 12-5 p.m.; Sept. 21, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sept. 22, noon-6 p.m.
For further information, contact
D'Ignazio by calling 617-501-2441, emailing kanarinka@ikatun.com or visiting http://www.ikatun.com.
For information on the Starr
Gallery at the Leventhal-Sidman JCC, 333 Nahanton St., Newton Center, please
call 617-558-6JCC (6522) or fax 617-244-8290.