Wearable CAVS Archive was created as a memorial to the artist Otto Piene. On November 8, 2014, a memorial celebration for Otto Piene was hosted by the MIT School of Architecture + Planning, the Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT), MIT Museum Studio, and fellows and alumni of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies. We celebrated his life, his work, and his impact on the world of art. Piene joined the MIT community as the first international fellow of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) in 1968. In 1974, he succeeded CAVS founder György Kepes to become its director, a position he held until his retirement in 1994. During his twenty years as director, Piene continued to further the mission of CAVS and made a commitment to “art on a civic scale” by creating events and exhibitions for the public. These events and exhibitions were elaborate artistic celebrations that encouraged cultural and societal cohesiveness. The increasing scale of Piene’s projects prompted the expansion of CAVS, which developed a graduate program awarding a Master of Science in Visual Studies within the School of Architecture beginning in 1976.
ACT participated in the MIT memorial event with the Wearable CAVS Archive project, which was jointly created by ACT/CAVS artists, fellows, and staff. The design is inspired by different artifacts from the CAVS archive, such as the neon sign, the Rolodex cards, and pink telephones, as well as Piene’s inflatable projects, such as the Fleurs du Mal [Flowers of Evil] from the late 1960s. Images of Otto Piene’s work were printed on Rolodex cards, serving as a prompt for recordings of new stories and memories of the artist, which were collected by former CAVS fellows during the memorial service.
Concept: Azra Aksamija
Project development and production: Collaboration of ACT and CAVS staff, including Azra Aksamija, Jessica Anderson, Seth Avecilla, Andie Boit, Marion Cunningham, Madeleine Gallagher, Jeremy Grubman, Karina Silvester
Participatory project, interactive performance with wearables
In Memoriam: Otto Piene (1928–2014), co-authored with ACT staff
Materials: textile, metal boxes and rods, old telephones, archival cards, sound recorder, conversations
Dimensions: 6 hats, 20 x 20 x 60 cm; 6 wearable devices, 40 x 30 x 50 cm