Readers may remember my post last February expressing concern for Ann’s possible boredom or loneliness as she repeated her only dance move nonstop. She took matters into her own bulbs (so-to-speak) by flickering on and off until she was taken to Atlas Signs on the southwest side of Indianapolis. While her electronic shell may have remained in the shop for repair, Ann’s light traveled far. Her first destination was the Wetterling Gallery in Stockholm, Sweden to join up with her old friend Jack. They attended an organic light emitting device conference to learn about the latest health trends affecting their livelihood.

Ann continued her journey with a visit Steve DeFrank’s studio to play with Lite-Brites, his invented medium of choice. DeFrank was a National Portrait Competition finalist several years ago with a life-size, Lite-Brite version of his mom and dad…nude.

Returning home, Ann stopped in St. Louis to see Rainer Kehres & Sebastian Hungerer’s work entitled CHORUS, 2008, located on the site of a burnt church. Part of The Light Project by the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, the overall message of the project was, “like light itself, difficult to pin down.” A bit ironic for Ann to be uncontrollably swaying her way through town wouldn’t you say?

While Ann was MIA from her Mass Ave hangout, she missed the excitement of IndyFringe Festival, the Colts first regular season game at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Circle City Classic, Barak Obama’s visit to Legion Mall and much more. But she arrived home just in time for the Halloween-goers Friday night, Saturday morning’s Monumental Marathon, the Pacer’s opening home victory Saturday evening, the Indianapolis Colts tremendous win Sunday night over the team’s rival the New England Patriots, and Tuesday’s historic vote. Surely, Ann has plenty going on in Indy to keep her happy. But you never know when she may be in the mood for another randevu with light.

Passersby might watch to see if Ann slides in any new dance moves she may have picked up on her travels. Welcome home Ann.

The Wikipedians, Max, and I.

Pictured from right to left are: Max, Aaron (aka The Urbanophile), Jasmine, Christina, and myself.  Not pictured here are Jenny and Joelle.  While I know that Jenny had a scheduling conflict that day, we never did get a response back from Joelle (where’d you go, Joelle?).

Here’s a list of the articles they created:

Christina’s Sutphin Fountain

Jasmine’s Numbers

Aaron’s Mega-Gem

Joelle’s LOVE

Jenny’s SnowPlow

I’ve been watching these articles since they were created and noticed each one has been added to by other Wikipedians – even if just a little.  The article on Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture has really taken off.  It’s started to grow into an article about all of Indiana’s LOVE sculptures, not just the one at the IMA, which of course was the first sculptural version that he made.  Wouldn’t it be cool if it became the place for information about that sculpture!

Though I don’t think I’ll be offering lunch with Max anytime soon for making more articles, I do encourage you to make an article about an artwork in the IMA’s collection.  Maybe it’s just because I’m a believer in Wikipedia, but I think it’s important work.  It could be a student project either at the college or high school level – really, anyone can make an article once you get the hang of it.

Because I’m interested in exploring and developing the idea that Wikipedia articles can serve as a place to document public artworks by hosting images, referencing other published information, and allowing the public to have first-hand involvement in the history and preservation of public art, I started working a while ago with a two other conservators Crista and Daniel to make Wikipedia articles about a few public artworks.

Here’s a list of the articles that we created:
In Indianapolis:
Ann Dancing

Depew Memorial Fountain

In Wabash, IN
The Lincoln Monument of Wabash, Indiana

In Washington, D.C.
Always Becoming

While we found that hosting images can be a little tricky (clearing copyright, etc) there’s clearly a lot that can be achieved through this work.  Take for example the Ann Dancing sculpture here in Indy by Julian Opie.  While it was installed in January of this year, it had some display issues and was recently taken down for repairs.  How do I know this?  I found out when someone made an edit to the article.  In a matter of days an image was uploaded and links were made to the local newspaper coverage.

I had never been so interested to see an artwork not working.  It was an example of history being written almost as it happened!

Who knows what will come of all of this but I believe there’s great potential for Wikipedia to help raise awareness about the preservation of artworks through documentation and keeping an up-to-date history – something that print publications simply can’t do.

This Saturday, I was looking forward to meeting Ann. I had heard about her, in the papers and on the blogs. As I approached the intersection of Mass Ave, Vermont and Alabama Streets, her glowing body beckoned me closer (think A Christmas Story and “major award”). Sensual sways hypnotized. I was fascinated by her, really.

“Ann Dancing,” by internationally celebrated artist Julian Opie, was installed in January as part of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail. Unfortunately, I missed last year’s “Julian Opie: Signs” invasion of Downtown (though our DC friends were enthralled by the Opie walk sign when visiting). You may have seen one of the 11 works of art in this series at the IMA, installed in the Efroymson Family Entrance Pavilion, called Pacing.

According to the Arts Council of Indianapolis, Ann’s LED (Light Emitting Display) concept is not new, but her clothes and dance are unique to our city. The Cultural Trail’s press release quotes Opie as saying,

“I am really happy that ‘Ann Dancing’ will be in Indianapolis and become part of the street fabric. As I sit in my studio in London, I think of her endlessly dancing for the passing traffic.”

As I sat in Starbucks and watched Ann, all four of her, dancing on the corner, I felt empathy for her. Was she lonely? Maybe bored? Living on a bike and pedestrian trail, she certainly emits an eduring energy, but maybe she would like a pair of rollerblades? A bike or a ball? How about some friends to jog with?

Perhaps this summer, she’ll come across a crowd in the mood to dance…

(Check out this public art locator for more.)