I’m Daniel Beyer, the Senior Media Producer at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  We are premiering our documentary, Type A, on ArtBabble today.  Scroll to the bottom of this post if you just want to watch the video.

It’s easy to notice that Adam Ames and Andrew Bordwin are funny.  Watch the first 45 seconds of this interview for proof.  But if you pay attention, you’ll discover they are also serious and profound thinkers.

Adam and Andrew are artists who focus on collaboration, competition and masculinity.  The first piece they did together, Dance, was a video of Andrew physically dominating and humiliating Adam during a wrestling match.  Dance made me afraid to be a part of their team building project.  I didn’t want to end up humiliated.

Adam and Andrew – or Type A – were commissioned by the IMA to create something for 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park.  They decided to work within the basic methods of Experiential Education and create a team of IMA staff (at least one member from each department of the museum) to team build.  The sessions included games, discussion, and a high ropes course.

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Film, New Media

“If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry,” wrote Emily Dickinson.  Emily’s wham-bang factor applies to the documentary film Marwencol, showing in The Toby on Thursday, December 9.  Here’s a peek:

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Filed under: Film, Public Programs, The Toby

Come to the IMA for a pairing of great documentaries about people driven to make music. This program is closed captioned and ASL interpreted.

The details: Double-Shot Music Documentary Day at the IMA
Saturday, March 13
1-5 pm
The Toby

Wug Laku, local artist and member of ArtsWORK Indiana fills us in on the events taking place this weekend as part of Disabilities Awareness Month at the IMA:

Filed under: Current Events, Film, IMA TV, Public Programs, The Toby

I love documentaries. The more depressing, the better. The kind that hit you over the head with how the world is going to hell in a hand basket, leaving you sad and hopeless. Yep. Love it. When I asked my Twitter followers if they liked documentaries and why, I got some really great responses…

Director Chris Paine, via NUVO.net

@mitchmaxsom: Happy or sad, well-told stories that better help us understand another perspective or circumstance are beautiful and necessary

@joanofdarkknits: I watch them, but I hate them [at the same time]. I still have images burned into my brain from one on animal cruelty and one on child cruelty.

@raypawulich: They can be powerful, but if I’m going to invest my time in sitting still and watching something, I choose to be entertained.

Sure, they can really open your eyes. But sometimes, they just tell you to keep on keepin’ on. For example, I’ve been on an save-the-planet documentary kick lately, but I’ve always been pretty passionate about the environment. I don’t eat meat, I recycle, ride my bike a lot, I’ve worked for an environmentally-conscious local newspaper, and now an environmentally-conscious museum. All good things, but I have to admit, just like anyone I get lazy (I forgot my reusable grocery bag at home. Again. Oh well.) and stray from the path. Sometimes I just needed a jolt of reality to reaffirm my tree-hugging beliefs. That’s not a bad thing, right? Do what you gotta do to stay motivated. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Current Events, Film, Local, Public Programs, The Toby

When I first heard about the iPhone, I was pretty excited about the possibilities of combining a camera, GPS, and internet connection. The idea of snapping a shot and uploading it to Flickr with a geotag, sharing it instantly with the rest of humanity, is a very powerful concept. Now that I have an iPhone, I’m exploring the apps and technologies available and refining my workflow. I thought I’d share my thoughts so far, since I think this is a great intersection of art and technology.

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Filed under: Musings, Technology