Derr seeks participants for video project for Nebraska's 150th Celebration

150 people are needed to participate in a video project titled "Kiss the Sky," as part of Nebraska's 150th Celebration.
150 people are needed to participate in a video project titled "Kiss the Sky," as part of Nebraska's 150th Celebration.

Derr seeks participants for video project for Nebraska's 150th Celebration

calendar icon20 Jun 2017    

Lincoln, Neb.--Have you ever wanted to kiss the sky? On July 21, Artist, Professor, and Director of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s School of Art, Art History & Design Robert Ladislas Derr invites you to kiss the sky as he records with video and photography at the Cube in the West Haymarket. An official event of the Cube Art Project and The Nebraska 150 Celebration, Derr will film and photograph the corresponding number of kisses.

As iconic to Nebraska as the rolling fields of corn, so is the expansive ever-changing sky that provides the backdrop. The video and photography offers a time capsule of the many faces that make up the fabric of Nebraska on its sesquicentennial. 

Derr is known for his witty community performances captured by video and photography in unsuspecting ways—he turns his media toolbox on its head to visualize his exploits.

In My Shoes had him walking in people’s shoes associated with a memorable moment. From Urbana, Illinois, to Dublin, Ireland, Derr walked in the shoes of others reciting their memory.

As he walked, he filmed the shoes in such a way so that he could project his stride on the floor. The second-generation video projection walked across the floor with the viewers.

In his performances, Derr devises some method of operation and then surrenders to the organic circumstances. He is careful to allow for the opportunity for his initial participants and second-generation viewers to conceptually enter and complete his work.

Along with his other works, Kiss the Sky is an experiential examination of movement, and the sound created by the activity, while contrasting both with the spatial expanse of sky. Using the palpable kiss, and the punctuated sound of the kiss, allows the relationships between video and photography to intertwine and underscore the format of the public performance.

Come out to the Railyard on July 21 and kiss the sky from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4:30 to 8 p.m. All ages are welcome. Your kiss will be screened at the Cube in August 2017. For more information, please visit, https://www.cubelincoln.com/ and www.ne150.org.

Derr received his M.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design, B.F.A. from the Art Academy of Cincinnati, and attended the Photography Institute National Graduate Seminar at New York University. Exhibitions and performances of his work have been held worldwide including the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (U.S.), Canberra Contemporary Art Space (Australia), Mendel Art Gallery (Canada), Schirn Kunsthalle (Germany), Wexner Center for the Arts (U.S.), and Irish Film Institute (Ireland), to name a few.

His works have been funded by such organizations as the Urbana Public Arts Commission, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Ohio Arts Council. Some of the permanent collections holding his work include Loyola University Museum of Art, Miami-Dade Public Library, and Indiana University Art Museum. For Derr, life is a performance—it sets the stage for his making. In 2016, he joined the University of Nebraska–Lincoln as Professor of Art and Director of the School of Art, Art History & Design after having been part of the faculty at The Ohio State University since 2004.