Third Friday 9/18/09: Great Accommodations with Jamie Burkart and Urban Culture Project’s visual and performing arts studios

It seems that third Fridays is where it is at lately if your looking to be an engaged participant. Whether it is navigating an inflatable river system or giving constructive criticism and suggestions to a local dancer and performer in residency-what art seems to say lately is that you are not just a viewer. You are a vital component, one that is of value (and not in the sense of economics). You are of value because you have something to share, something to contribute as a human being in the world.
Many artists are acknowledging that they can't face this world alone and with good reason. Jamie Burkart is another example of someone who subscribes to this mentality.
This past third Friday was the reception for Great Accommodations with Jamie Burkart: Imagining Lifestyles for Cities on the Water as well as the open studios preview of the Urban Culture Project’s visual and performing arts studios. Although first Friday has contributed much to the arts in Kansas City, it has as of late, felt rather stale and stuck (perhaps the lovely commercialization of such an event has contributed to this? as well as new developments in the West Bottoms. Third Friday, by the way of the Urban Culture Project, provides a very vital platform for what Kansas City needs: dialogue and exchange.
This dialogue is formed via Great Accommodations with Jamie Burkart who through his personal navigation of American rivers is re-envisioning a way of life that is codependent mimicking the notion of symbiotic relationships. Jamie essentially wants you to know that “ There’s a river in this city” and to ponder the implications of developing cities near rivers. He wants to highlight Kansas City’s potentials and does so, I believe, pretty damn successfully. If you ask anyone who knows anything, they will tell you that something is happening here in Kansas City that is rather unique for the Midwest. Jamie might be preaching to the choir however (those that already attend Third Friday might already have a hunch to K.C.’s current status via the art world and beyond). The amazing thing would be to see how Great Accommodations affects the non-gallery frequenter because the show has such wonderful considerations that react against stale artistic frameworks.
What Jamie is offering is not necessarily the 21st century’s answer to Huck Finn as some have labeled him, though I suppose you could look at him in that manner. Great Accommodations is much deeper than being written off as just a man’s journey with his close friends. It is at the core speaking to something many of us, especially generation y are use to: the idea and importance of social networking.
Great Accommodations is sort of the synthesis in a series of engagements that Jamie is the facilitator of, which highlight the use of local rivers as a social networking agent. It comes out of an interest of the river’s capacity to connect people. There is something romantic and noble about these desires, which have been activated by Jamie.
Mr. Burkart alongside of Suzanne Hogan and other multiple collaborators built a bicycle powered paddle wheel raft in typical D.I.Y. fashion which took to the rivers a few years back. After doing so, Jamie and Suzanne Hogan mailed hundreds of letters and placed facebook advertisements to reach people and places located along the Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Ohio rivers. These letters and advertisements were open invites for individuals to share their experiences and perspectives of life on the river to share alongside of Jamie.
Great Accommodations is Jamie’s humble attempt to communicate the use of rivers as agents for connection. His attempt to communicate this came through using the bicycle powered raft as an artifact of what is possible with a little bit of courage, the complete transformation of the Paragraph and Project space into a massive site specific inflatable river system, and the use of technology/media emphasizing the idea of connection.
It is a hands-on interactive experience immersing the viewer/participant in a physical, behavioral, and visual environment. You are invited to explore the inflatable river system made from plastic tablecloth, blue painters tape, and recycled building materials, all while Jamie acts as a gallery attendant, “active accommodator”, and facilitator of the show. You navigate the space as you confront interactive pieces such as Accommodations for James Johnson which is what appears to be a simple modulation of the viewer’s real-time movements against rippling wavelike artifacts as a metaphor for the dynamics of the river and Moving in Cities on the Water in which by the turning of upside down bicycle wheel, the viewer can scroll through a looping slideshow of 410 photos taken near the Missouri river between Kansas City and Saint Louis, while audio composed by film musician Spencer Owen mimicked the barges of the river.
There are other pieces that emphasize the desire for connectivity on a social level such as Strangers which is a piece that dates back to 2007, in which Jamie bridges the span between two apartments via window to window by the length of wood. He then in a display of his mastery of balance walks across the beam of wood into his neighbor’s house, where is neighbor had been active and isolated upon a computer.
It seems that the only thing that seemed stagnant in the show was the bicycle-powered raft, which hung in one section of the inflatable river system. It would be nice, as a viewer and participant to have some sort of interaction with the bicycle, to actually power the raft, to learn the mechanics of such a device, etc. This is a small issue in comparison to a show that functions in such an open manner.
What is amazing is that an artist is willingly to assume so many roles. Humility has finally entered the art realm! Nothing felt forced or unnatural about the presentation or the manner in which the work was talked about. The space only functions as a living museum because Jaime is doing so. It is the openness of this young artist’s personality that attempts to rid of old dichotomies and opens one up to an offering of trust, one that many of my generation are engaging in. Will this change anything? Only time will tell but it sure is inspiring.
Speaking of breaking down barriers, alongside of the third Friday reception for Jaime Burkart was the open studio preview of the Urban Culture Project’s visual and performing arts studios at the City Center Square (which is located at 12th and Main, 5th floor). The facility provides shared studio/rehearsal space for both visual and performing artists as well as small private studios. The venue includes a large open space (approx 3,000 sq. feet) and the private studios are each approx.150 sq. ft.). This preview was perhaps the most magical part of the night because of how refreshing it was to see these creative beings inhabiting a highly corporate building. The artists which have been selected have transformed the sterile environment of corporate office spaces into something invigorating (or at least it is getting there). The space and the artists are currently residing on a one-year lease, so let’s hope that this space becomes a place of constructive, innovative, and fresh engagements through the arts.

related links:
http://www.charlottestreet.org/