Jackie Beckey’s Psychedelic Art Parade will be kicking off the festival tonight at 9:15 pm on the Stone Arch Bridge. This 40 piece marching band that draws inspiration from the after-dark parades of Mardi Gra, as well as Afro Beat rhythms, Balkan brass phrasing, and Eastern European string arrangements, has composed a special performance to start off tonight’s festivities.

The Psychedelic Marching Band will start at the western end of the bridge near the Mill City Museum and will progress across the bridge, ending around 9:45 pm near the Soap Factory. Please join us at 9 pm on the bridge to commence our festival with a welcoming speech from Mayor R.T. Rybak followed by this awesome glowing parade!

The Endless Bridge at The Guthrie.

We are thrilled to share that The Guthrie’s Endless Bridge will be open until 11pm tomorrow! If you’ve been up to the Endless Bridge before, you know it offers the perfect view of the Stone Arch Bridge – so be sure to wander up there and take in the scene from above! This would be a great place to watch The Psychedelic Art Parade or take in the beauty that is THINK AND WONDER, WONDER AND THINK. But hurry – you’ve only got 2 hours!

This year’s festival has been garnering quite a bit of coverage from all sorts of media sources! Check out what great things the reporters  are saying about Northern Spark 2012 on our In the Press page! Click the excerpts in italics to be re-directed to full articles. For interviews with artists and organizers, be sure not to miss the postings by The Huffington Post, L’Etoile, Mill City Times, Radio K, The Wake, and MPR.

This list comes from Bryan Kenney, Exhibit Project Leader at the Science Museum of Minnesota.

I’m a big time science nerd, spending my spare time playing with computers and collecting records. Somehow, I also get paid to work with a bunch of geniuses, making exhibits at the Science Museum of Minnesota.

Bat Detection & Capturing Insects
Humans detecting bats. Humans capturing insects. Excited to show nature who’s boss. Or ya know, learn about my environment…
 
Dakota Combo Jazz Ensemble
Earnest teens playing jazz that I can’t normally afford to see. Win win.
 
ARTCRANK & LOCUS Architecture, Treadprint Posters
I’ve always wondered what the road thinks my bike looks like. This activity matches my artistic abilities quite well.
 
Ta-coumba Aiken and the Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center, Celebration of Life, Energy and Power: Views of Our World
I might have teared up the last time I saw a presentation by the folks in the Kitty Anderson Youth Science Center. Interested to see what they bring to the night.
 
Keetra Dean Dixon, Swing Hall, Swing All
I’m not sure what this is, but there will be lots of swings. I think I can take a chance on that.
 
Caly McMorrow, Observation Tape Deck
How have I lived here for more than a decade, and never summited the Foshay? Excited for the view and these interesting audio recordings.
 
David Goldes and Jonathan Bruce Williams, THE Northern Spark
Electricity! Excited to see some electrons get excited.
 
Night Vision Tours: All Will Be Illuminated
After I get good and sweaty biking around to the wild sparks and loud music, I’m sure I’ll enjoy chilling out and getting contemplative at the Weisman.
 
Diane Willow, tuning the sky
This seems exactly like a really cool science museum exhibit. I’m mostly checking this one out to steal the idea.
 
Tetsuya Yamada and Clive Murphy with U of M students, Pizza/Calliope
Did you see the drawing on this one? I’ll be on the end that’s shooting out pizzas. Late night snack, before I collapse. 

This list comes from Margaret Pezalla-Granlund, one of the 2012 Northern Spark artists.

Christine Baeumler, Reconstituting the Landscape: A Tamarack Rooftop Restoration
I love Christine’s work, and know to expect something thoughtful and inspiring. I’ve seen the sketches for this project, and can’t wait to see the real thing.

The Bell Museum, Bat Detection
One of my favorite summer activities is walking home after dark in our neighborhood, accompanied by the quick flashing shadows of bats. How do they navigate?

Highpoint Center for Printmaking and the Bakken Museum, Lake Street Luminary Promenade
I like Lake Street, and I like Highpoint, and it will be lovely to see both illuminated.

Margaret Pezalla-Granlund, Journey to the Surface of Mars
I pretty much have to go to this one. And there will be cookies. And I’m looking forward to talking to people about Mars.

Raptor Center, Raptor Meet-and-Greet
It’s raptors!!!

Scott Sayre and Vanessa Voskuil, Midnight Padhandling
I would participate in this project if I could — I am just so curious to see how they’ve deployed the technology.

Tetsuya Yamada and Clive Murphy with U of M students, Pizza/Calliope
Pizza and music. Outdoors, at night.

Starting at June 9th at dusk you’ll have 8 1/2 hours to take in a variety of art across all of Minneapolis. With 200+ artists and 120 projects, to say there is a lot going on is an understatement.

We will be using social media to keep you updated on any changes in locations and times of projects as well as documenting the magic of the evening. Follow @northernspark on twitter to keep in the loop.

Our coverage of the event on twitter will be a group effort. Posts for @northern_spark will be coming from three people:  Tom (@TRL), Stacy (@Staciaann) and Joel (@MNoriginal). We will have some help Carl (@Catiyas) and CakeIn15 (@CakeIn15) as well so make sure to follow all of these people throughout the evening for the latest and greatest of the festival. We’ll be focusing on Zone A (Stone Arch / Main St) but expect photos & updates from across Minneapolis.

We developed a mobile app that allows you to tweet about specific projects throughout the night. You can find more information about how the app works HERE. You can use the app to tweet about projects with the potential to win some prizes throughout the night.

Whether you are posting on your mobile device or the app, make sure you use the hash tag #NSPK 

If this isn’t enough, we are working with a ton of partners who use twitter on a regular basis that will have coverage throughout the evening. We listed them below by zone and included info about food trucks & others using twitter.

Zone A – Stone Arch Bridge / Main St

@TheSoapFactory 

@loftliterary

@PaperDarts

@OpenbookMN

Zone B – Downtown Minneapolis

@WMinneapolis 

Zone C – Walker / Loring

@walkerartcenter

@openfield

@RainTaxiReview

@lunalux

Zone D – MIA / MCAD / Greenway

@artsmia

@MCAD

@midtowngreenway

 @HOBT

Zone E – University of Minnesota

@weismanart 

@BellMuseum 

Food Trucks:

@Barrio_Truck

@10000licks

@sheroyalcoco

@PottersPasties

@Simplysteves

Others:

@Milkweed_Books - They are running a contest after midnight where you can win books

@EVERYONE – SEE YOU ON SATURDAY #NSPK

We recently talked with Rosemary Williams as she prepared for her project Mom’s Cookies. Mom’s Cookies is a series of short silent videos showing packaged convenience foods prepared from start to finish by a well-coiffed mother figure. The videos will be projected onto mill buildings near St. Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River.

These videos commemorate this area of the Mississippi River as the birthplace of modern packaged foods. Viewers will have the opportunity to watch the product of the waterfall’s power literally rise in the oven, with the waterfall itself as a backdrop.

www.northernspark.org

Sunset to Sunrise. Northern Spark THIS SATURDAY! June 9

Video by Tricia Towey
Music: Blue Moon by Mel Torme

As you may already know, David Rueter’s project The Kuramoto Model (1000 Fireflies) will culminate in a midnight ride across the Stone Arch Bridge. Rueter has crafted 1000 synchronizing LED bike lights that will be distributed to Northern Spark visitors Saturday night at various information tents. Everyone who gets one of these lights is invited and encouraged to ride with us at midnight!

While it will be exciting to be part of this movement, it will be equally (if not more) amazing to watch it! The mass of bikers will be exhibiting a beautiful blinking light pattern that travels across the river. To best see this mobile bike light exhibit, you’ve got to station yourself above the bridge. My first suggestions would be the top of the hill in Gold Medal Park and the stretch of West River Parkway in front of the The Guthrie and The Mill City Museum. If you can think of any other spots, please share on our facebook!

On the designing of Kolam stencils, In Habit’s director Piotr Szyhalski writes:

“For the IN HABIT project I have made a set of 16 stencils to be printed during the performances. This unusual aspect of the project is perhaps the most direct reference to the South Indian tradition of Kolam drawing. I found the idea of constructing fragile and ephemeral images using rice powder extremely inspiring, and wanted to include this gesture in the performance. When working on the designs I was attempting to maintain an aesthetic connection with the traditional Kolam lines, while infusing it with a diagramatic, map-like forms. The stencils offer a glimpse into the conceptual and structural underpinning of each dance. Each of the 16 dance sections opens with the design printed on stage using the rice powder. Much like with the street Kolam, the designs are vulnerable to the activity of the day. As you can see in the images, the prints are transformed during the performance, and new compositions emerge.”