Hi-Tech Art Gallery Explores 'New Media'

"...A WORLD FURTHER TRANSFORMED BY TECHNOLOGICAL POSSIBILITY"

A lively new art studio and exhibit/event facility designed to encourage and display "multimedia arts" has opened near the burgeoning arts district of Laguna Beach, Calif. The 25,000 sq. ft. modernist complex named [seven-degrees]™ was designed by local architect Lance Polster. A/A, with interior design by Mark S. Orgil who is a partner in the 6 million project that took four years to build.

Centerpiece of the building is a 4,500 sq. ft. Media Lounge. Equipped with advanced sound, lighting, and audio/video systems, plus a computer control room for local and facility-wide broadcast, closed-circuit television, and web-casting.

"In creating {seven-degrees}, we have established an environment in which we hope that traditional physical and technological restrictions will be minimized, enabling new creative ideas to become reality," said Orgill, who is also president of the laguna Civic Art Association, "My vision is to maintain a philosophy of continuous flow and evolution in all aspects of the program."

The southern California gallery becomes one of the first U.S. exhibit/work spaces for new media art, whose digital nature "emphasizes interconnectedness and fluidity over stasis and permanence," notes Peter Hall writing about New York City's proposed Eyebeam Atelier Museum, designed to open in 2005. Hall quotes Christen Paul, adjunct curator of new media art at the Whitney Museum of American Art:
"There are many problems posed by new media, but most of them are due to the fact that there aren't any spaces for showing it,' she says, pointing out that Finland and Germany already have their own digital art museums. 'Traditional museums are not equipped for this kind of art."

Winner of an Architecture Guild award for architectural design, [seven-degrees] sees itself as a progressive icon and "idea lab" for the promotion of artistic invention. Nevertheless, the facility has space for displaying more traditional art, such as the opening exhibit Human Will by artist Louis Longi. His hollow, abstract figures are bound and motionless, captured in expressions of self-discovery - as accompanied by an I-Ching symphony.

As part of it's rationale as a self-funding facility,
[seven-degrees] is available to be rented out to groups of up to 300 for corporate or private events, with the services of an A/V production team. "A total of 180 speakers, a plasma RGB video screen, three Draper electric projection screens, and an extraordinary 'intelligent' lighting system are just some of the technological components that can be utilized," says marketing director Allison Ahlfelt.

Wired with a centralized backbone and sub-networks of Category 5, RG6 coaxial, and fiber optic cabling, the plant has an electronic access control system and networked video surveillance with digital video recording. The computer-controlled lighting system, including variable color and image moving gobo projectors, wash, and spots, is custom configurable.

For video display, the multi source, switchable video distribution system includes giant, retractable screens for multimedia front-projection, plasma displays, rear projection video screens, and LCD monitors. Source components include CD, DVD, tape, and computer input. Each area of the building is equipped with satellite control panels to enable manual access to audiovisual zones throughout the facility.

The audio system designed by P&W Orth Audio consists of multiple-source, switchable audio distribution and acoustically engineered sound reinforcement throughout the facility. Orth's plan utilized Tannoy and RCF loudspeakers, Sound Web digital controllers, and QSC amplifiers. High-speed telecommunications lines enable audio/visual broadcast and conferencing.

Four work/live studios, also equipped with advanced technological features, are situated within the complex for both short- and long-term artists. The gallery's first resident artists were Europeans comprising a new media arts collective, Battery Operated, which hosted a multimedia, site-specific installation incorporating original video and sound composition. The interactive exhibit was titled "Vaccum" (inspired by the French word "vacu" which means spaces that have experienced human interaction").

The interactivity is part of the whole deal of the installation - the way the sound is manipulated and changed," said artist Wade Walker. "There are changes according tp people's presence."

Another member of the Collective, TomKz (Thomas Couzinier), pointed out that European art centers similar to [seven-degrees] include the Center of International Creation of Video and Group de Research Musical in France, ZKM in Germany, and V2 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In New York, a venue called Harvest Works similarly hosts artists, exhibits, and events, he said.

"It's great to have a chance to collaborate in such a supportive environment."