Thursday, October 02, 2008
TROY, N.Y. —
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is unveiling a new media and arts facility that features cutting-edge technology, a project that took $200 million and almost eight years to complete.The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center officially opens Friday, kicking off a three-week celebration that includes video installations, musical performances and multimedia presentations. Officials at the nation's oldest technological university claim EMPAC is unlike anything else in the way it will put art and science together to allow for innovative new ways of learning, researching and creating.
Built into the side of a hill, the 220,000 square-foot glass, steel and cedar structure rises from the edge of campus, adding a new, angular dimension to the skyline in the Hudson River city of Troy. Inside there's a 1,200-seat concert hall, a 400-seat theater, a 360 degree panoramic screen, artist studios and rehearsal spaces. The entire building is designed with technologies to eliminate as much background noise as possible, including a nearly silent heating and cooling system.
Not only is it the most technologically advanced building on the upstate campus, it's also the most expensive in RPI's history. The project far surpassed it's original estimated price tag of $140 million, with much of the funding coming from an anonymous donor's $360 million gift in 2001.
In 2003, RPI President Shirley Ann Jackson said EMPAC would "provide a platform for artists and technology-based researchers from around the world to gather and collaborate to create unique new forms of the performing arts, while conducting research in an arena ranging from visualization and animation to acoustics."
Jackson, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, recruited German composer and curator Johannes Goebel to run the project, and the 7-story building itself was designed by London's Nicolas Grimshaw & Partners. In keeping with the university's interest in environmental engineering and sustainability, it was designed to meet the standards for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Construction began with the groundbreaking in 2003.
The music hall and theater are designed for maximum acoustics, with drop-ceilings made from a special, adjustable cloth that allows some frequencies to pass through and others to reflect. The stone walls are shaped to optimize sound, and the entire room is designed so different-sized audiences won't dramatically affect the acoustic quality of the music, according to EMPAC spokesman John Rodat.
Though best known for its engineering programs, RPI has been increasingly expanding into the arts world in the past several years, particularly through its electronic media arts program. The two disciplines aren't that different in terms of the research and development processes, according to EMPAC faculty. Curator Micah Silver says the two are "parallel visions of ingenuity."
"It (EMPAC) is almost sort of a post-disciplinary project," said Silver, explaining that rather than just combining art and science, he feels EMPAC will work to blur some of the distinctions between the two.
The facility can also be used for teaching technologies like virtual surgical procedures and designing architectural works from the inside-out on a giant screen. Like RPI's cutting-edge scientific research, faculty say the performances they produce will be equally contemporary, and unlike anything commonly seen in the region.
"What makes EMPAC pretty unique is that it's set up as a production house as well as a performance space and a research facility," said curator Helene Lesterlin. "Artists will get to experiment at full-scale. They really have a chance to play with the technology and perfect it, and create new technology."
The center will also focus largely on facilitating artists' residencies and commissioned works, providing much-needed space and the tools. Researchers, audio engineers and video engineers are all on the center's staff, and Lesterlin said they plan to be flexible when it comes to artists' needs.
"You kind of have to see it to understand it," said Lesterlin. "It's really an experiential kind of thing."
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