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Tough Art is an innovative artist residency program that challenges artists to rethink their ideas of interactive art in one of the toughest venues – a children’s museum. Participating artists learn how their artworks connect with visitors outside of the typical museum environment, and what it takes to create artwork that can sustain the rigors of a hands-on environment.
Created in 2007, the Tough Art artist residency program seeks to connect artists from across the spectrum of all the arts to the resources and visitors at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. Selected artists generate and implement interactive, immersive and/or collaborative projects and connect the art-making process to the larger museum context and the museum visitor. Artists are tasked to make a direct impact on the visitor experience by creating an entirely new piece to be displayed in the Museum. Throughout the residency, artists prototype and evaluate their process to achieve the desired outcome.
Tough Art 2017 Artists Include:
Urchin Searchin Sound by Arvid Tomayko and H. Gene Thompson
This large-scale coral reef emphasizes the importance of the ocean and its connection to human life as the “lungs of the earth.” The experiential geodesic dome creates a playful environment where people can connect through exploration of tactile, soft sculptures that translate touch into sound.
Nimbus Drum by Shohei Katayama
The amplified sound generated by clashing metal beads aims to call attention to the smaller things in life that are oftentimes overlooked. Nimbus Drum reveals how implicit microstructures in nature inevitably affect outcomes of explicit macrostructures – in this case, the clouds.
Drawn Together by Robert Zacharias
This digital collaborative drawing encourages healthy social interaction as visitors explore and design something interesting with a friend they haven’t met yet.
The Nest by Megan Flod Johnson
Visitors can imagine and build a nesting home alongside facilitator-performers who help to reveal the story of a mythical creature that resides within the museum.
To see their work visit: https://pittsburghkids.org/exhibits/tough-art
10 Children's Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15212