Arts Festival Pick- Art Olympics: The Iron Chef of Art

Art Olympics, Saturday, June 21, 6:30 pm, Market Square

This event looks like it is going to be a great time. Artists will be competing against the clock and with limited materials to create sculpture. I think it will be interestesting to see how the different teams tackle the creative process. The final products will be judged by a panel of experts.

I also think this event is worth checking out because it is a creation of Tom Sarver of the Tom Museum who is someone I would really like to meet. The Tom Museum hosted the show about mix tapes and I was sorry I wasn’t able to attend. I just leared from the Tom’s blog that the Tom Museum closed on May 31st. Tom Sarver’s blog has some great clips of projects around Pittbsurgh and beyond. Check out this one on cardboard gears.

You can see the schedule of events here. There is even a halftime show too. The audience is encouraged to get up close and talk with the teams. Check out the website for the event here. Beer from Penn Brewery and Music from Opek. Read John Morris’s write up of the event on The Digging Pitt blog here.

Here is a clip of the Art Olympics from last fall at the New Hazlette Theater. (Video courtesy of Larry Ripple)

A zany blend of reality television, racing and art, the Art Olympics are coming to Market Square. The creation of puppeteer, painter and sculptor Tom Sarver, the Art Olympics pits teams of artists against each other to create a sculpture using surprise materials and curious constraints. A panel of judges – a la Iron Chef – then judges the creations and announces a winner. Three teams, each team representing a different Pittsburgh neighborhood, will have two hours to build a winning sculpture from materials that are unveiled at the competition. The result is an interactive audience experience that’s part performance, part construction, part rodeo and all party. From sports fans to reality tv buffs, gallery-goers to process-driven post-docs, the Art Olympics make art accessible to everyone – and it’s a darn good time