Todd Murphy to Direct First Experiential Art Installaton at Music Midtown

Todd Murphy to Direct First Experiential Art Installaton at Music Midtown

Renowned Artist Assembles Accomplished Team to Create Interactive Exhibits That Will Enhance Festival Experience

ATLANTA, May 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Music Midtown(TM), one of the nation's premier music festivals, announced today it is working with internationally recognized artist, Todd Murphy, on an experiential art installation. Murphy is working with professors and students from Georgia State University, Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia to create unique designs and structures that will enhance the cultural element on site.

"Todd Murphy's unique creativity and vision will, without doubt, create quite an impression at this year's festival," said Peter Conlon, president of Peter Conlon Presents. "I wanted a cultural component at this year's festival. He has assembled a team of incredible thinkers from the faculties of some of Georgia's best schools and we hope to make this a central part of Music Midtown in the future."

Murphy, an Atlanta-resident and University of Georgia graduate, is an accomplished painter and sculptor and has had his work exhibited in museums and galleries all over the world including Atlanta's High Museum of Art; the Seoul Metropolitan Museum of Art in Seoul, Korea; the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, CA; the New Orleans Museum of Art. During the last five years, Murphy has focused his attention on site-specific work and creating experiential spaces.

According to Murphy, Music Midtown provides an enormous opportunity to expose thousands of people to a creative environment that incorporates many different forms of artistic expression.

"There is an abundance of un-mined visual talent in the Southeast and Music Midtown is perfect place to showcase the work of some of Georgia's most gifted artists," said Murphy. "I believe that the future of every great city lies in its ability to foster a creative environment. Music Midtown has been promoting that kind of creativity for the last 11 years and we are pleased to be a part of this great Atlanta tradition."

Murphy and his team are working on three unique experiential spaces for this year's festival:

* "WindWall" -- An interactive, kinetic, social space that provides
festival-goers with an interesting way to "cool off." Over 60 feet
long, the WindWall is constructed of 40 shaded oscillating fans
operating in a series, a mist system, and wallpapered with unexpected
portraits of all types of people. Designed by Michael Gamble,
assistant professor of architecture in the College of Architecture at
the Georgia Institute of Technology and partner in the firm Gamble and
Gamble Architects in Atlanta.
* "Hell on Wheels" Sherman Tank -- A full-size inflatable replica of the
WWII vintage Sherman Tank that focuses on the dichotomy of the
machine's perceived power and its actual ineffectiveness. From a
distance, the size and stature of the piece will give the impression
of the memorial tanks and up close, the visual will change as viewers
become aware that the tank is actually made of playful materials. The
sculpture will inflate and deflate in intervals, abstracting the shape
and giving it the illusion of breathing. Designed by Joseph
Peragine, director of undergraduate studies and assistant professor,
drawing, painting & printmaking at Georgia State University.
* "UV-Hydrocarbon" -- A molecular structure built out of clear acrylic
tubing, fluorescent black lights and a misting system all linked by
custom multifaceted connectors. The piece produces a foggy mist that
hovers around the sculpture by day and pulses a neon glow by night.
The shape of the sculpture reveals the underlying code of its nature.
A free form adaptive installation, it is designed to interact with its
environment by assembling the structure piece by piece within the
designated space. The construction is similar to a tinker toy on a
large scale. Designed and built by Michael Oliveri, assistant
professor and chair of The Digital Media Department at the University
of Georgia, with assistance from Bill Sampsell, owner of Rotokinetics
and students Kit Hughes and Cody Vanderkaay.
http://www.michaeloliveri.com/ , http://www.rotokinetics.com/

In addition, Music Midtown is adding Greg Roberts' PlayMotion! to its list of attractions this year. PlayMotion is a magical device which transforms ordinary walls, floors, and ceilings into wildly interactive, virtual playgrounds. A radical combination of computer vision algorithms and videogame graphics techniques, PlayMotion takes a quantum leap ahead of existing "virtual reality" experiences -- requiring no special equipment whatsoever; no goggles, gloves, helmets, markers or other "augmentation" is required -- thus making it an immediate, utterly intuitive, and completely natural experience. For more information about PlayMotion, please visit http://www.playmotion.com/ .

Finally, Music Midtown is working with Creating Pride, a non-profit organization whose mission is to ignite energy through art-making, to create a large interactive mural the crowd will encounter when entering the gate 2 of the festival located at Pine St and Piedmont Ave. The mural will be 60+ feet long and will consist of a series of squares painted by students, festival organizers and various artists. Festival-goers can paint their own square on the mural throughout the weekend in the front parking lot of Sci-Trek. The mural will be guided by renowned artists: John Tindel and Michi, who recently sold out the High Museum of Art for the Arts, Beats and Lyrics exhibit. The two artists have created a unique design for this year's limited edition festival fine art print, which will be available for purchase on site. The artists will be on hand Saturday, June 11 on site to autograph the paintings. For more information on this organization, please visit http://www.creatingpride.org/ .

Music Midtown 2005 will take place on new dates, June 10, 11, 12, but at the same location adjacent to the Atlanta Civic Center and will feature more than 100 musical acts. Additional line up announcements to follow. For more festival and ticket information please visit http://www.musicmidtown.com/ .

About Music Midtown

In 1994, producers Alex Cooley & Peter Conlon, founders of renowned concert promotion firm, Concert Southern set out to create the most unique music festival. Upon Cooley's retirement in 2004, the festival is now solely produced by Peter Conlon Presents. Music Midtown is internationally recognized as one of the greatest and most unique festivals. For the past eleven years, festivalgoers from around the world descend upon the heart of the South to experience Music Midtown, America's largest three-day music festival. Over 100 major and emerging acts representing all genres of music perform each year on multiple outdoor stages throughout a 40+ acre complex centered between the bustling metropolitan areas of Midtown and Downtown Atlanta, Georgia. With an amazingly low admission price, Music Midtown annually draws 300,000 revelers to Atlanta. In its twelfth year the festival promises to carry out its tradition of featuring the biggest names in music and one of the most diverse lineups of any music festival in the world. Music Midtown also works to promote the City of Atlanta while highlighting the economic and cultural importance of the event to international media.

Source: Music Midtown

CONTACT: Neal Wilder of Creaxion[R], +1-404-495-4512, or mobile,
+1-404-317-0698, or neal@creaxion.com , for Music Midtown

Web site: http://www.musicmidtown.com/
http://www.michaeloliveri.com/
http://www.rotokinetics.com/
http://www.playmotion.com/
http://www.creatingpride.org/

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