Visions2030 Artist as Innovator Showcase Features CalArtian Work

Beginning on Friday, Oct. 22, Visions2030 presents Artist As Innovator: Demo Day, a virtual three-day showcase of seven solution-driven projects. Among the presenters are CalArtians Hillary Leone (Art BFA 86) and Kayla Weisdorf (Film/Video MFA 18). 

Founded by CalArtian Carey Lovelace (Music, Critical Studies BFA 75), Visions2030 is an “evolving organization devoted to harnessing the artistic imagination to create new paradigms and new models of society.” The works that will be presented during Demo Day were produced during Visions2030’s 18-month Imaginator Start-up initiative. 

Leone’s immersive participatory work Synch.Live will be presented from 12:30-2 pm ET (9:30-11 am PT) on Sunday, Oct. 24. Collective natural systems, such as a herd of deer or school of fish, inspired the Synch.Live, which features miniature computerized tracking systems for individual participants as it “calculates the level of group coordination in real time.” More about the project from the Visions2030 website: 

Just as flocks are more than a collection of birds, might human groups, under the right conditions, become something more than a collection of individual members? And if so, would the experience allow us to focus not on what divides us but rather on what connects us, our common humanity?

In the Synch.Live experience, participants wear specially designed hats equipped with LED lights and mini-computers. At the outset, the lights on their hats blink at random intervals. The group’s challenge is to figure out a way to synchronize the lights on the hats across the entire group. The rules are simple: no talking, keep moving, and stay arms distance apart.

Weisdorf’s water reclamation project, titled Tending the Marine Garden, will be presented from 6:30-8 pm ET (3:30-5 pm PT) on Saturday, Oct. 23. In order to address climate change and other ecological concerns, Weisdorf turned to nature-based solutions, including installing seeding systems in four New York locations off the edge of Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island. More about the project from the Visions2030 website: 

Seagrass, the only flowering plant in underwater environments, forms the basis of the 2nd most effective ecosystem for capturing and storing carbon in the world, aiding significantly in the fight against climate change without the need for the extraction of compounds or any further manipulation. It pulls nitrogen from the water in which it lives, stabilizes sediment, and produces oxygen, reducing nutrient pollution as well as shoreline erosion, and improving water clarity. Its long blades provide a habitat for aquatic species, and, by dampening wave action, protect against storm surges. An underutilized tool in waterway reclamation efforts, the simplicity of this age-old “technology” is part of its beauty.

See the full schedule on the Visions2030 website.