Art and Politics: Artists Take on the Democratic National Convention in Denver

Ever since Haskell Wexler shot "Medium Cool," his seminal critique of television, during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the possibility that art might make a showing during our collective political deliberations has been on the table. And in Denver this August, it's going to be quite a buffet.

On the more "official" side of things, the city of Denver has coordinated the commissioning of 10 internationally renowned artists by Seth Goldenberg and Liz Newton to provide a host of participatory, interactive exhibits encouraging lively public discourse. Dubbed "Dialogue: City," the multi-site extravaganza includes politically tinged Karaoke, a digital media work by Daniel Peltz that encourages citizens to re-perform a variety of speeches by 2008 presidential candidates; a multi-media opera by DJ Spooky that remixes images and sounds of Antarctica in order to raise consciousness about the delicate balances of global climate; video testimonies by veterans struggling with homelessness collected by Polish artist Krzysztof Wodiczko and projected on Denver buildings from a redesigned Humvee; and a chorus of metro-area choirs organized by Anne Hamilton and set to perform "activist" songs drawn from lullabies, work songs and the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

"Dialogue: City" events kick off with a reception at 6 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 21, and continue through 6 p.m., Friday, Aug. 29. For more information, visit www.dialogcity.org/

For more international star power, Denver's Invisible Museum has coordinated the planning of a project by Hungarian artist Peter Kozma similar to the large-scale light projections on assorted buildings and public spaces he's mounted for several European cities (Budapest last fall in among them). It's hard to say how much progress there's been on this project since Kozma visited Denver in the spring to scout locations, but keep an eye on the Invisible Museum Web site for details: www.invisiblemuseum.org

Closer to the grassroots level, a Denver artist collective known as Boom is planning a guerrilla-style mobile exhibit of works by Denver artists situated in a truck. They had great success with this concept at the opening of the Hamilton Building, the new wing of the Denver Art Museum, in 2006. Follow the preparations at www.boomdenver.com/index

"How do you define democracy?" is the rallying cry for Cinemocracy.org, which has organized an open competition for filmmakers to submit up-to-five-minute-long video responses to that ever-relevant question. The videos that raise the most interest, via online voting, will be screened at Red Rocks Amphitheater on Monday, Aug. 25. More details at www.cinemocracy.org

Though the results of its filmmaker's labors won't be public for some time after the convention, Denver Open Media's Patchwork Production Project is providing substantial support for several crews to produce a series of interrelated short videos in HD, all sharing the convention as theme, location and inspiration. The shorts will then be edited together into a feature. Check out the project's progress at www.denveropenmedia.org/node/5954