Eli Goldstone Interns at Expanded Cinema Lab at the Center for Innovation
from FSU Art BFA ’20 Eli Goldstone:
This past Summer 2020 semester, I was given the opportunity to work closely with Assistant Professor Tra Bouscaren and Associate Professor Keith Roberson as they develop and build out the Expanded Cinema Lab at Tallahassee’s Center for Innovation. The aim of the Expanded Cinema Lab is to provide more exposure of new media artworks and installations to the Tallahassee community. I primarily work in video art and installation, so having the opportunity to work closely with two professional new media/digital artists has only served to improve my own artistic practice. I was lucky enough to learn about this internship opportunity during my time in Professor Bouscaren’s Video Installation course.
As an intern at the Expanded Cinema Lab, we worked both remotely and in-person at the Center for Innovation. During my time spent remotely, I was tasked with researching various materials for installations. This involved getting in touch with local businesses such as pick-n-pull car lots and windshield repair shops. Since both Professor Bouscaren and Professor Roberson use discarded materials, this was an important part of my research as we worked to build up some installations on-site. In addition to researching various installation materials, I also researched various New Media Art Festivals held in cities across North America. One of the main goals of the Expanded Cinema Lab is to create a New Media Art Festival in Tallahassee, and help develop the art community in the city. As such, myself and the other intern gathered information on festivals held in cities similar in size to Tallahassee. Working on this aspect of the internship was extremely enjoyable for me as it presented the opportunity to develop what could be a major art festival in the south.
When we worked in person, we usually met at the Center for Innovation. The time spent there was mainly dedicated to preparing the Expanded Cinema Lab for installation and its eventual opening to the community. This included tasks that are often done in a gallery setting such as painting all the walls white. Additionally, we helped build storage racks for the various equipment to be used at the lab. Recently, we have been helping Professor Bouscaren wire together the Expanded Cinema Lab’s title on one of the walls using neon. I would say that this was one of my favorite experiences during this internship as I had never worked with neon before, and hope to find ways to use it in future work. At the same time, with Professor Roberson, we have begun to create one of the first installations at the lab; a ‘VR cave’. If you are currently working in or are interested in working with video art/installation/new media art/animation/digital art/VR, I would strongly suggest speaking to both Professor Bouscaren and Professor Roberson to learn how you can get involved. For those more interested in the opportunity to work on developing an art festival, I would also suggest this internship to you. Both professors are eager to find more people to join the Expanded Cinema Lab team, and are interested in people from various majors, departments, or interests.
