Artist Camille Utterback is collaborating with the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History to create a public artwork for the museum’s monumental glass atrium wall. The artist will incorporate images from the museum’s historic photography archives, transforming them into an interactive, projection-mapped video artwork. The content and form of the projected video will react to the movements and presence of people within a defined space in the atrium. The finished piece will examine the history of Santa Cruz County, focusing on human use of the San Lorenzo River from the 1860s to today. The piece’s October 2016 premiere at the museum’s annual Glow: A Festival of Fire and Light 2016 is timed to correspond with a $5 million renovation of Abbott Square, a neighboring plaza that the museum is transforming into a creative community hub.
Camille Utterback is a pioneer in the field of digital and interactive art — an expert in site-specific projection on glass, public artwork, motion tracking, and architectural-scale interactive video. Among many other projects, she created a temporary interactive installation on the glass façade of San Jose’s City Hall.
The Museum of Art and History was founded in 1996 to promote a greater understanding of contemporary art and the history of Santa Cruz County. It offers rotating art and history exhibitions, educational programs, historical archives, cultural festivals, and community partnerships.