Artist Encampment on Bumpkin Island :: September 1-3, 2007 :: 11:00 am – 3:30 pm :: free :: Produced by Island Alliance and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation in collaboration with Berwick Research Institute and Studio Soto :: Getting there: Take the Harbor Islands ferry from Long Wharf to Georges Island and transfer to the Southern Loop inter-island shuttle to Bumpkin Island. Other mainland departure point for the inter-Island shuttle is in Quincy. For more information and for ferry schedules go here or call 617-223-8666. [Related]

Nine groups of artist “homesteaders” will create interactive installations, using available materials and what they bring as primary media. Works will pay tribute to the Island’s past inhabitants, highlight the Island’s natural resources, and engage the public as performer, apprentice, student, and honored guest. Works include temporary shelters, shrines, musical instruments, performance, video and electronic art, and sculpture.

Artists are considered temporary “homesteaders,” in their exploration of transforming an empty plot of land (their campsite) into a resource sustaining themselves and their community.

Featured projects include:

Kristjan Varnik – Giant Sand Bass – An interactive instrument that transforms the natural resources of Bumpkin island into a huge musical instrument over eight feet tall providing the opportunity for multiple people to play it at once.

Madhu Kaza – Islet: (Hospitality) – An interactive performance that is an exploration of how ritual and politeness mediate the fragile boundaries between public and personal space.

Joshua Rosenstock, Sarah Phillips, Jonah Goldstein, Jessica Baptista, and Marilyn Fontenrose – Untitled – Visitors will be recruited to join scavenging parties and help assemble a bestiary of feral farm animals. A Series of Shrines will be an arrangement of branches and stones into small-scale assemblages, incorporating early photographic imagery and sound collage.

Bebe Beard, John Gayle, Ali Hourounoupolis, Mary Ann Kearns and Sam Smiley – AstroDime Transit Authority – Plan A: a 12′ x 14′ wireless internet zone assisting the other homesteaders create community. Plan B: to make the connection between the homesteaders using empty & or Heinz baked bean cans and string.

Else Eaton, Marybeth Mungovan, Tiffany Dumont, Ryan Riehle, Rory Jackson – Untitled – Shells, fossils, rocks, and trash from the island will be incorporated into a dwelling/functional community gathering place/performance space with instruments made from found materials.

Jarrod Beck – The Bumpkin Island Water Collective – Building sand canals rather than sand castles, this communal irrigation system will feature rainwater collection, natural material filtration, runoff management and desalination.

Jane Ingram Allen, Chris Allen, Rebecca Smith Allen, Timothy S. Allen – Shelter, Untitled – This temporary shelter of fallen branches will be covered with handmade paper that visitors to the island of all ages create using plant materials.

Alison Wood, Sven Anderson, Dana Moore, Vanessa Wood – Oasis of Conscious Stillness – Within the thatched tipi made of fallen timber, invasive brush species, dried grasses, twisted branches and curling vines people can pause and absorb the natural, historical, social, and artistic energy pervading the island. On Sunday, visitors can join in breathing, movement and meditation practices.

Laurinda Bedingfield, Barbara Cone, Ronnee Yashon, and Enid Kumin – Island Spirits – Creating a focal point for island visitors to honor Bumpkin’s past inhabitants and bring them to life through discussion, this installation involves the creation of sculptures and two dimensional paste forms on the ground.