Clients, collaborators, friends, and family gather and celebrate “The Belle & Wissell Experiment: Year 15” at new facility

On Thursday, September 6, Belle & Wissell hosted a crowd of clients, collaborators, friends, and family to celebrate its fifteen year anniversary. The event’s primary theme was focused on the phases of The Moon, the passage of time, and the collaborative works that the studio has completed since its inception. Of course, the event included some further peppering of self-initiated projects from the studio’s history, focusing on experimentation with new technologies and narrative (many of which relate to time and space travel.)

A series of artful media installations celebrating these themes were presented throughout the studio’s new offices, prototyping space, and shared home at Oxbow—a lively arts compound dedicated to cross-disciplinary collaboration in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood. Oxbow regularly presents site specific installations from its artist-in-residence program, but also contains offices and fabrication shop for design-build partner BEMA, as well as three restaurants (Ciudad Grill, Bar Ciudad, and Lorena’s Kitchen).

Media installations peppered the studio's new facility in Georgetown

Media installations interspersed the studio’s new facility in Georgetown

 

A highlight of the evening was an experimental multimedia performance, with concert pianist Cristina Valdés as the center piece with participation from the Belle & Wissell studio team. The performance was a redux of the rather peculiar, narrative vinyl record project made years earlier, entitled R.H. Wissell’s Lost Recordings. The “story record” included music composed by Wayne Horvitz (produced by Steve Fisk and William Ronan of DCC Experience), narrative voice-over from David Ossman (best known for his work with Fire Sign Theater), and writing by David Drury.

Live multimedia performance

Live multimedia performance incorporated pianist Cristina Valdés’, audio-triggered generative visual sequences, and voiceover monologues.

 

View from the mezzanine of the festivities

View of the festivities (from the mezzanine).

 

Guests captivated by a multimedia "performance"

Guests captivated by a multimedia performance.

 

Guest accessing content from the studio archives

By pressing a button labeled “ACCESS”, guests could retrieve printed data from the studio archives.

 

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