BUMPKIN ISLAND ART ENCAMPMENT 2010

The 2010 Bumpkin Island Art Encampment will open to the public July 31 - August 1.  For five days, eight artist groups will take temporary ownership of eight plots of land on Bumpkin Island. As "homesteaders," they will build some kind of home on the land, live on the land for five days, and "improve" the land via a site-specific, temporary performance or installation.  In its fourth year, the Bumpkin Island Art Encampment is going strong. You are invited to join the temporary community 

2010 PROJECTS & ARTISTS

Octopus' Garden, Marisa DiPaola

Inspired by the Hawaiian creation myth and an Eyak story, "The Woman and the Octopus," DiPaola will act as an octopus homesteader and knit found materials into a floating shoreline shelter and aquatic garden, complete with a kelp bed, urchin cushions, and other domestic amenities.

The Great Bumpkin Hunt, Ali Reid

Building on island folklore that "Bumpkins" are "little guys with glowing eyes," Reid and a cast of intergenerational family members will lead daily interpretive tours exploring the mysterious species' rise and decline.

Tidal, Ellen Godena and Nathan Andary

Tidal is a series of body-land sculptures that mimic tidal movement over Bumpkin's "gut"-a land bridge to Hull that emerges at low tide. As Godena and Andary's movements shift pebbles and stones, piles of rock will accumulate and dissipate, appearing as rolling ‘waves' in the direction of their movements.

No Place to Go or Won't You Please Walk With Me, Cara Brostrom

Brostrom invites visitors to walk with her as she loops Bumpkin's 20 acres, walking the island clockwise some 12 miles per day. Traveling a great distance without going anywhere, she will mark her progress by adding one rock to a cairn each time she passes her starting point.

Bumpkin Sky-Land, Mark Davis

Davis will delve into the mystical realm of "sky-land"-alluded to in a WWI-era ballad about Bumpkin-as he summons the island's aerial genii loci to manifest themselves in the form of floating lattice structures and shoreline fire-glyphs.

4-D Map: Portraits of Stones & Plants Found Along the Water's Edge, Sharon Dunn

Stones and monumental portraits, positioned in a circle as "offerings," will map elements of Bumpkin's coastal ecosystem, tidal life zones, foliage and geology. Visitors will access digital photos and an online journal by mobile device.

Encampment within the Encampment, Camilo Alvarez, Shalini Patel, Mike Szegedi, Szussanah Szegedi, & Maria Molteni

Five artists will feed and support each other through a micro-encampment of nine distinct projects:

Camilo Alvarez, preparator, will install or perform works by four artists: Antoniadis & Stone, Jessica Gath, Douglas Weathersby, Cyrille Conan, Seth West and William Pope.L. Mike Szegedi, engineer, will prepare a bicycle-mounted video confession booth that will travel the island collecting inhabitants' innermost feelings.Maria Molteni, performer, will recreate an American myth and cryptozoological spectacle through the creation and inflation of a 20 - 30 foot "Montauk Monster." Shalini Patel, practitioner, will explore ritual and engagement through two interrelated projects: the Bumpkin Island Tea Party, in which "Identitea Stalls" will provide settings for visitors to converse, drink tea and read Tarot cards, and Rain Free, the performance of creating the tie-dyed "Identitea Stalls" out of muslin, natural dyes, and island resources.Zsuzsanna Szegedi, painter, will adapt to rising tides as she performs a drawing installation, suggesting outlanders' struggles in new places. Process will be captured with time-lapse video. Visitors are encouraged to participate. VISITiNG INFORMATION

Curators and Partner Organizations
The Bumpkin Island Art Encampment is curated by Megan Dickerson, Carolyn Lewenberg and Jed Speare. The Art Encampment grew out of the Berwick Research Institute's Special Projects Incubator program, and is co-presented by Studio Soto, a space for ideas in Fort Point; Mobius, Boston's artist-run center for experimental work in all media; the Boston Harbor Island Alliance, a non-profit in support of the Boston Harbor Islands; and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.