Project Pop-Up at Point Park

An Installation on Wood Street

Andrew Halalsz and Noel Schermaier at the installation of "Main Feature-Now Playing" on Wood Street.

The creative efforts of faculty and students in the University's Photography, Photojournalism and Cinema and Digital Arts programs are showcased in Project Pop-up, a year-long effort to fill various empty Downtown storefronts with new, temporary tenants, ranging from art installations to functioning retail businesses.

A collaboration among the mayor's office, the Downtown Partnership, the Urban Redevelopment Authority and participating artists and entrepreneurs, Project Pop-up includes Point Park installations at 422 Wood Street. Chris Rolinson, assistant professor of photography, and Andrew Halasz, assistant professor of cinema and digital arts, led the projects.

"COMmunity" is a photographic based installation comprised of morphing photographic portraiture, analog televisions and a wall of personalities and identities. The images are seen in a video format and meld together. As the work evolves visually, the original portrait becomes a composite of many different students.

According to Rolinson, "not only are we energized by the prospect of putting vacant storefronts to use as aesthetic masks, but also by the opportunity to create visually stimulating and thought provoking work for our students and fellow Downtown residents and commuters."

For the Cinema installation, Halasz said that the team "hoped that the combination of a lit-up theater façade, the occasional bursts of laughter from the audience, and the projected image of an audience watching Wood Street as if it was a movie engages those passing for a few minutes - makes them think or laugh.

"The most interesting aspect of creating this installation was the evolution of people's perceptions of the space as it was being put together. We fielded many questions about the 'theater' that was coming in," said Halasz. "People approach it expecting an actual movie house - which is what we hoped for. Once they see the projection, the majority seem to get it."