Free Interactive Art Exhibit Will Project Participants’ Facial Expressions and Physical Gestures on Giant LED Screens on Jerry Moss Plaza to Create Digital Artworks in Real Time Depicting Climate Change
Select Dates Only: March 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 30 and 31; April 1, 6, 7, 8 and 22
LOS ANGELES (March 16, 2023)— The Music Center today announced Our Common Home, a large-scale interactive exhibition addressing our impact on the environment, as the second public art exhibit to be presented by TMC Arts’ Digital Innovation Initiative (DII). Created by Montreal-based digital art studio Iregular, Our Common Home will make its Los Angeles premiere on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center and be presented on select evenings, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. PT, in March and April 2023. Visible on the plaza’s two 12’ x 20’ LED screens and supported by cameras, Our Common Home will track participants’ facial expressions and abstract movements to generate digital artworks in real time. For example, participants can engage in movements and gestures to create differently sized and shaped icebergs that float away and disappear in the distance, or use their facial expressions to depict fountains of trash pouring out of giant reflections of their own faces, conveying the waste generated by overconsumption.
“The Music Center is thrilled to introduce Angelenos to a revolutionary example of interactive art that will get them moving and, simultaneously, encourage them to think critically about their intimate connections with our planet,” said Rachel S. Moore, CEO and president of The Music Center. “Because there are so many views on climate change, it is a topic that deserves more attention, and The Music Center is proud to provide an artistic experience to inspire dialogue about this vital issue.”
Our Common Home is comprised of four interactive experiences on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center:
- CREATURES: a paradoxical allegory for human interference in the animal kingdom and the fascinating wonders of nature. Participants move their hands to choreograph flocks of birds and schools of fish moving in synchrony across the LED screen.
- PRODUCTS: a digital mirror of our contribution to global waste and consumerist culture. Participants open their mouths to activate “fountains” of trash.
- ICEBERGS: a melancholic spectacle of our planet's vanishing polar ice caps. Participants move around and strike poses to create iceberg shapes that detach from the body and drift away.
- TELESCOPES: a network of human faces reminds us that we are all part of the environmental chain of influence. Participants make facial expressions to manipulate others' faces simultaneously.
These four interactive experiences are extended online by a fifth collaborative artwork titled THE SUN. Full details about the project may be found at ourcommonhome.art
“With the West Coast premiere of Our Common Home, The Music Center’s Digital Innovation Initiative continues to bring unique physical to digital experiences that catalyze and engage Angelenos, artists and culture makers,” said Kamal Sinclair, senior director, The Music Center’s Digital Innovation Initiative. “We are honored to partner with Iregular to introduce Los Angeles to an experience that fuses art and interaction technology to send a message about the urgency of climate action. We encourage everyone to discover how connected, or disconnected, they are with our planet through this new, emerging technology!”
“Our mission is to take Our Common Home and its message to as many cities around the globe as possible,” said Olivier Gagnon, head of business development and global partnerships at Iregular. “Bringing it to a leading world hub like Los Angeles is another important step towards that goal, and we are extremely excited to witness Angelenos interact and, quite literally, leave their mark on the four artworks that make up this experience that is both physically and mentally engaging.”
Although this installation uses proprietary facial and gesture tracking technology, it does not collect data in the form of individuals’ faces or other identifying information. The Music Center is committed to ensuring the privacy of our visitors. Please visit musiccenter.org/privacy for more information.
Our Common Home is the second public art installation presented by TMC Arts’ Digital Innovation Initiative (DII), an exciting 10-year pilot program launched in 2022 that is designed to explore and create digital and virtual reality experiences throughout Los Angeles. DII’s first public art exhibit, We ARe Here: A Celebration of Legacy, offered Angelenos the opportunity to learn—through augmented reality (AR) and with hands-on artistic experiences in Grand Park—about the legacies of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities and individuals who have contributed to Los Angeles County’s rich diversity.
For more information about The Music Center’s presentation of Our Common Home, visit musiccenter.org/ourcommonhome
For more information about The Music Center’s Digital Innovation Initiative, visit musiccenter.org/DII
CALENDAR LISTING
WHAT:
Our Common Home
A large-scale interactive art exhibition addressing issues of climate change by integrating participants’ live facial expressions and physical movements with images projected on LED screens on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center to generate digital artworks in real time. Open to the public and making its Los Angeles premiere, this free art exhibit is the second installation presented by TMC Arts’ Digital Innovation Initiative designed to explore and create digital and virtual reality experiences throughout Los Angeles County. Our Common Home is created by Montreal-based digital art studio, Iregular.
This project has been made possible in part by the government of Canada.
WHEN:
Friday, March 17
Saturday, March 18
Thursday, March 23
Friday, March 24
Saturday, March 25
Thursday, March 30
Friday, March 31
Saturday, April 1
Thursday, April 6
Friday, April 7
Saturday, April 8
Saturday, April 22
All events will occur from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. PT
WHERE:
Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center
135 N. Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
TRANSPORTATION:
Public parking will be available for $10 per vehicle in The Music Center Main Garage (accessible via the Grand Avenue entrance) and the Walt Disney Concert Hall Garage (accessible via the 2nd Street entrance).
The public is highly encouraged to take public transportation. The Civic Center/Grand Park station along the Metro B Line (Red) and Metro D Line (Purple) is located conveniently in Grand Park with a short walk to Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center.
MORE INFO:
Visit musiccenter.org/ourcommonhome
About The Music Center
The Music Center convenes artists, communities and ideas with the goal of deepening the cultural lives of every resident in Los Angeles County. The $70 million non-profit performing arts organization has two divisions: TMC Arts and TMC Ops. TMC Arts, The Music Center’s programming engine, provides year-round programming inside The Music Center’s four theatres, on Jerry Moss Plaza, outside at Grand Park—a 12-acre adjacent green space—in schools and other locations all over Los Angeles County and on a digital platform called The Music Center Offstage. TMC Arts presents world-class dance with Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, free and low-cost public concerts and events, as well as live and digital K–12 arts education programs, workshops, performances, interactive experiences and special events. TMC Ops manages the theatres, the Plaza and Grand Park, which comprise $2 billion in county assets, on behalf of the County of Los Angeles. The Music Center is also home to four renowned resident companies—Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles Master Chorale, LA Opera and LA Phil. For more information, visit musiccenter.org. Follow The Music Center on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @MusicCenterLA.
About Iregular
Iregular is a Montreal-based digital art studio that creates audiovisual installations, large-scale sculptures, architectural projections and scenographies, with a focus on interactive and immersive experiences.
At the crossroads between art and technology, these artworks experiment with geometry, light, sound, typography, mathematics, algorithms, communication protocols, AI, and machine learning.
Iregular also develops its own proprietary technologies.
The studio works with the infinite and random combinations produced by interactive systems that the audience ultimately influences and transforms. The interaction is at the core of it all. It is only the relationship between the people and the piece that finalizes the artwork and gives it meaning.
Iregular was founded in 2010 by Colombian-Canadian artist Daniel Iregui.
# # #