The Creators Project, the highly-anticipated arts and technology festival took place in Dumbo over the weekend. After kicking off the project in NYC last year, The Creators Project toured the world with stops at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival and in cities such as Sao Paulo, London, Seoul, Paris and Beijing. A world wide tour of onsite installations, music and multimedia visuals — has picked up artists as it went and returned to NYC in Dumbo for a grand showcase in a place that embraces crossing bridges and reaching new heights.

Why Dumbo?

I asked Alex Detrick, the communications manager for The Creators Project, "Why Dumbo?"

"Dumbo is the perfect fit. It has a rich history, it’s filled with galleries & artists of all kinds & the neighborhood embraces creativity! We took this show around the world to find artists in multimedia visuals and bring them all here!"

Dumbo over Soho

I also asked Alex about the decision to have the culmination of the creators project here in Dumbo over any other locale in NYC.

"You guys have a great cross section here in Dumbo. There are families, the young the old and artists as well. Dumbo is the Creative Capital of NYC now."

I asked him why not SoHo and I learned that we shared the same beliefs in Dumbo as a creative capital. That places like Soho and Chelsea in Manhattan are now for the over produced and elitist within the art world. Dumbo is for the young & emerging artists. The Creators Project seeks to empower young artists who don’t have the means to create and explore the area of multimedia visuals. They have partnered with Intel and Vice whose goals are in sync with one another to help fund artists’ endeavors.

The Experience

The Creators Project brought artists from around the world to showcase their exploration of interactivity through multimedia, audio & visuals. The melding of technology, art, music & the idea of interactivity is creating a whole new genre experience for Dumbo.

Sensory Experience

Soil by Cantoni & Crescenti brought Dumbo a down to earth aesthetic that explored senses normally un-activated by traditional art. Soil transformed viewers into characters and allows them explore the sense of collaboration, their sixth sense, sight, physical feeling, gravity and a heightened sense of self awareness. Soil, a social project about collaboration as an important aspect of interactivity, conveyed the message is that "together we are more powerful than the few and that one individual alone has a great impact in the collective." Cantoni said,

"Soil means nothing without the people. It’s just pieces of metal. The interactivity is important, it creates the experience."

The sensory experience that Soil created was so powerful, that guests would stop, close their eyes to sense something that words could not describe.

"This is not the art I am use to from museums. A curator could not tell me how to feel about this piece, I have a sensory experinece of my own!"

Motor Experience

Meditation by Minha Yang presented free form movement mixed with audio and visuals which showed versatility. It did not show the crowd what to do nor what to look at; instead it helped to open the viewers’ mind to possibilities. Taking viewers out of the viewers seat and into the drivers mind, viewers’ movements made the piece transform and turned the viewer into an artist. Passers by who thought they were simply viewing a display quickly learned that their presence brought what they were viewing to life and that their movement made it something more.

Dustin, who was charged with overseeing the piece all day witnessed how large movements had an effect, but was marveled that tiny hand movements and subtle shifts in body position created just as impactful results.

"It is simply interativity. None of this was possible 10 years ago! This piece shows what can be done. It’s like a giant Xbox it’s so cool. I wish art was more in the forefront of American society as most new media artists are mostly international. The diversity is great and it shows us that so much more can be done."

Crowd Experience

For three days, the streets, Dumbo businesses, and normally empty buildings in Dumbo were filled with people exploring art and technology. Some were not impressed with everything they saw. One couple expressed it as,

"It’s hit and miss here. Some pieces shot high but missed the bar, the ideas were awesome though, but we are really here for the music."

I later found them dancing under the bridge. Another person expressed her sentiments as such,

"This is great! This event is exposing interactive design as well as art in general. Viewers get the opportunity not just to engage, but to see how they can be creative as well."

Impressions of the Experience

"What is to be taken away from The Creators Project being here in Dumbo is that anything is possible. Even if it still in the idea phase, the public will embrace it and make of it what they will. It is no longer for artists to be in control, but to create and facilitate new experiences that triggers sensory experiences." –Danii Oliver

Thank you to the Dumbo Improvement District for working with The Creators Project to bring them to Dumbo! Post written by Danii Oliver, Interactive designer and developer. CDO of DAMN Digital Studio, an Interactive Agency in Dumbo Brooklyn.