Ingenuity Part Deux
Four More Days of Spectacular Art & Technology

After leaving the Cleveland Trust Rotunda's “Temple of Technology” during last year’s Ingenuity Festival, I decided there was a lot more to the celebration’s inaugural year than meets the eye.

World-class arts and technology were turning downtown Cleveland upside-down and Ingenuity patrons inside-out… but over the course of four days and 24 hours, I saw more downtown community and more of the city’s forgotten areas than I’ve seen in my lifetime living in Cleveland.

There was everything from music, art, magic, and animal/ nature shows for children and families, to break dancing, visual arts, theater, ballet, classical music and prodigious high-schoolers. And certainly the latest in tech marvels, brain wave imaging, and interactive, three-dimensional art were intriguing. And plenty of late-night stuff for you owls, too.

But just as important, there was life on Public Square and Euclid Avenue; there was warmth and breadth in the dark alleyways and stunning captivation emerging from old storefronts-cum-art installations. Artists and creative sods stormed the Square from eight different directions, breakdancing, skating (skateboarding is still not a crime), stilt walking, and low-riding to a bombastic, boombox-simulblasted soundtrack. It set the tone for the whole weekend; old, forgotten places were once again brimming with life.

If Ingenuity proved anything (beyond the success of merging art and technology), it was in helping residents remember what Cleveland once was and can be... and that without Cleveland, there is no Northeast Ohio. Period, end of story.

Starting tomorrow and running through July 16, the 2006 Ingenuity Festival of Art and Technology festival will ignite Downtown Cleveland’s lower Prospect Avenue area with another all-new way to appreciate our fair city. What’s more, with four outdoor stages and over a dozen more indoor performance spaces in, there’s little doubt you’ll find something to scratch that cultural itch.

Internationally renowned Halim El-Dabh’s “Symphony for 1,000 Drums” begins the festival Thursday evening, and will do so in grand style. But there are plenty of other acts, events, art and technology that Ingenuity visitors will thrill in exploring.

Aside from Exit Stencil’s showcase and a must-experience set from DJ Spooky (highlighted with Cleveland Institute of Art staff member/ experimental film and video artist Kasumi called “Subliminal Strings”) here are the can’t miss events… my “Six Pack,” if you will:

• Red {an orchestra} presents “Red Rocks!” Featuring the music of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Beach Boys, The Beatles and Steppenwolf. Using past experience as an indicator, Jonathan Sheffer and company are sure to turn classic rock on its ear. (What? No “Freebird,” friends?)

• After a standing-room-only success at last year’s Ingenuity, Opera Cleveland brings “Opera in the Alley” back for another go-around. Their program will feature music from “Carmen,” ” West Side Story,” “Show Boat” and several other operas and Broadway shows.

• CIA professors kicking out a little something called Ripon—an interactive video game where 6 players try to navigate characters in a post-apocalyptic world. It’s supposed to undermine what videogame users expect. I’m still stuck on Bally/Midway circa 1981, but this sounds and looks astounding. This ain't no "World of Warcraft."

• Rendezvous, a MorrisonDance piece choreographed to footage of the Space Shuttle in an interstellar dance of its own with the International Space Station. What could be better than collaboration between MorrisonDance and the fine folks at NASA to truly embody a telescopic man-lift.

• SAFMOD. Sub-atomic Frequency Modulation Overdose. World Premiere. Multi-media. Extra-sensory. Incorporating sound, movement and high-impact visuals detailed with ultraviolet light, the performance troupe’s An Evolution of Light is just going to devastate the McCrory building—home to last year’s Verb Ballets Ingenuity show. Maybe THE can't-miss event of the weekend.

• Life in Balance uses sacred musical instruments like quartz crystal bowls and enhanced world flutes, enhanced by technology to create masterworks. They’re a nationally-renowned touring/recording duo (a.k.a. husband and wife Steve and Ami Sciulli) and have worked with everyone from Deepak Chopra and Rusted Root, to The Drepung Gomang Tibetan Monks.

There’s more. A WHOLE LOT more, but I’ve only got so much space and you’re probably getting low on bandwidth yourself. So here’s the skinny: you can be a part of the Tipping Point for Cleveland AND get in on the action for FREE. Yeah, dat's right. All you need to do is volunteer for part of the four-day event and you get a free ticket to the festival and a free t-shirt. Check out http://www.ingenuitycleveland.com/volunteer.asp for more information.

If you’re planning on coming down (and you should), tickets are only $10 for each of the day’s events… or you can purchase a four-day pass for $25 and you get four days worth of the best of Northeast Ohio’s performing artists, visual artists, musicians and technology professionals. It’s a steal of a deal. Check out http://www.ingenuitycleveland.com/tickets.asp to get yours.

Don't miss the Cool Cleveland Ingenuity Mixer at Fat Fish Blue this Thu 7/13, which gets you open bar, Cajun buffet, live music, plus a free ticket to the Ingenuity Fest that you can use anytime all weekend. Get your tickets now for your best deal online here

And before you hop in the car, you might want to map out what you’re going to take in. My suggestion? Take a copy of the Schedule with you: http://www.ingenuitycleveland.com/userfiles/file/master%20schedule.pdf

Finally, keep an eye here on http://www.CoolCleveland.com. We’ll be checking in periodically on the Cool Cleveland Blog with info and observations from the inside. Don’t miss out. Take in the works of more than 90 organizations and 1,000 individuals representing the coolest of Cleveland. And you get a peak at how great this city's spaces can be, to boot. I know you’ve heard it a million times, but you’ve gotta see this.

From Cool Cleveland Managing Editor Peter Chakerian peterATcoolcleveland.com (:divend:)