Pop Video: Art Olympic Theater

The Olympic Art Theatre, which took place Saturday, October 6th, at Pittsburgh's New Hazlett Theater, was modeled after the popular Iron Chef cooking show and featured three teams of artists competing to build winning sculptures out of piles of junk. Each team was permitted to carry only one suitcase of extra materials onto the event floor.

For the first ninety minutes of competition, Pittsburgh teams Metal Beard, led by Chris Kardambikis and Team Self-es-Team, led by Morgan Cahn, dominated the stage as junk was transformed into displays of puppetry, towering alien-like forms and instruments of percussion.  All the while, the Morgantown crew awkwardly fiddled with nuts and bolts, broken chair legs and sheets of insulating plastic.

The overly accessorized, rainbow Spandex costumed members of Team Self-es-Team began a victory dance through the audience a bit too soon. Out of nowhere Loewen's team, which included artists Emily Walley, David Hale and Evan Thomas, completed the final element of a complex kinetic art sculpture involving a lighted inflatable attachment and all four members of the team whirling on miniature revolving sculptures.  As the four team members twirled, pulleys connected to a large central inflatable piece began to move as well.  The clever combination of engineering and artistry incited cheers of excitement from the crowd and high scores from the event judges.

The event was the first of a series of Art Olympic Theatre events organized by artist Tom Sarver as a program of the Tom Museum.  More information about the event can be found on the Tom Museum Web site,  www.tommuseum.com.

The Tom Museum is an independent project of Tom Sarver in partnership with The Mattress Factory.