MarkWhittaker.com

The beauty is in watching it move, change and grow, not in seeing what it looks like when it’s done growing.

At least, that’s my take-away from seeing Inflatable Architecture and from talking to its creator Chico MacMurtrie at Wood Street Galleries on Friday, Jan. 23. I was there during the “Gallery Crawl in the Cultural District,” and figured MacMurtrie’s works were worth a separate post.

Inflatable Architecture is a series of connected, inflatable tubes that squirm and move and dance depending on bursts of air that are sent through the contraption and depending on who else is in the room.

MacMurtrie was in the gallery, so I figured I’d ask if his work ever fully inflated. It does, he said, but essentially, what would be the fun in that? The constant change and movement compels viewers to just stand a watch for a while. And even if it’s just three or four minutes, that’s more time than some people would spend gazing at a painting, he said.

Another work, 16 Birds, is also at Wood Street Galleries. It’s a predecessor to Inflatable Architecture. The imagery is more blatant, but the movement of the birds makes it just as compelling.

I saw MacMurtrie and one of his assistants later in the evening at ZEE[RANGE].

Spending 10 or 15 minutes in a room filled with fog, booming noise and flickering strobes Friday night was disorienting, a bit euphoric and oddly comforting.

That was my experience with ZEE[RANGE], an immersive, environmental artwork by Kurt Hentschlager. The fog, lights and sounds speakers were set up one last for the “Gallery Crawl in the Cultural District,” an energetic celebration of art in Pittsburgh.

Part of the time I felt like I had walked into a room filled with television snow. There were other moments when it seemed flashes of electricity bolted around me. And there were moments when the lights turned dark colors and I felt comfortably wrapped in the fog.

It didn’t start that way. Walking into a room filled with fog was almost like walking into a cave with no light. I could see my hands in front of me and no farther. Most of the 18 others that went into the room with me disappeared. My only stability came from a rope that bordered the room, and I clung to it desperately for a few minutes to keep from falling over.

After a few more minutes though, I managed to orient myself to the changing pulse of the sound, the different lights and the shroud. And, after I was acclimated to this cacaphonic environment I actually began to enjoy it. I was grinning from ear to ear as I walked out.

One sober note, however. One woman collapsed with a seizure only moments after walking into the exhibit with the group before mine. Her friends were taking good care of her. We were all warned about the possibility of seizures before entering.

ZEE closed at the Wood Street Galleries at the end of December, and was set up in an abandoned storefront last night. I’m sorry I didn’t know about it before. It would be fun to go through it with some friends. The artist’s description and some photographs are here.

Speaking of friends, the Gallery Crawl was well-attended, especially by groups of young people flitting into and out of the various galleries and exhibits. It wasn’t New York, but with people attending shows, the crawl and busy restaurants, a few blocks of Pittsburgh were downright vibrant.

Many folks, myself included, enjoyed the SPACE: America’s Favorite Architecture exhibit at the American Institute of Architects office on Liberty Ave. Number one on the list is the Empire State Building, and I noted that four baseball parks were on the list: the Astrodome (OK, not exclusively for baseball); Fenway Park; Oriole Park at Camden Yards; and AT&T Park, home of the SF Giants. The exhibit runs through March 14.

After Friday night, I’ll be sure to pay more attention to what’s on display in the art galleries and take more trips there. Of course, that was the intent of the Gallery Crawl!