A new site-specific installation for
Downstreet Art + MCLA

June 24 - October 17, 2010
26 Holden Street, North Adams, MA

Within this “artery,” biology, architecture, and social behavior overlap as various types of life support systems. Treating the interior of the bar as the inside of a body, the installation pumps electricity into a corpse-made-reanimate. Here Nofziger considers an environmental space as an organism, and game as a regulated structure for human interaction.

After 39 years at 26 Holden Street, The Artery Lounge relocated and expanded in early 2010, leaving behind a stripped-out shell of a bar. Extrapolating upon the architecture of the space itself, the definitions of artery, and the remaining relics of the former watering hole, Nofziger has created an immersive multimedia environment.

Investigating history and nostalgia, this work also considers anatomy and transit. Transparent red vinyl saturates the gallery inside and transforms the view of the exterior. This altered light shifts dramatically throughout the day. A pool table invites viewers to spend time in the evolving space and to participate in the installation. Amplified and altered, the sounds of the game gain impact, and resonate through the bones of the structure.