LRT's artwork delivers boxfuls of Minnesotiana

Hidden in plain sight around Metro Transit's light-rail stations are bits of Minnesota captured in sound and video clips. You'll find them in small steel boxes attached to pillars or sitting on stands. Turn a wheel, pull a crank or ring a bell and you'll be treated to songs, poetry or stories by Minnesota artists, maybe one you know. The gadgets are the designs of Janet Zweig, an artist from Brooklyn, N.Y., who organized the public art project called "Small Kindnesses, Weather Permitting." She described her designs and the process of pulling the $300,000 project together in an e-mail interview with startribune.com.

ST: Your designs are called "kiosks." But they're not what many people might think of as kiosks. Describe what you've created.

JZ: We've created small mechanical follies, where people can have the fun of playing with an interactive, whimsical sculpture, and as a result receive an audio or a video clip made by a Minnesotan. This is all to provide them with a new and interesting experience while they're waiting for the train.

There are three to five small kiosks at each of the stations, 39 in all. There are 11 different kiosk designs: seven audio designs and four video designs, made in editions of three or four each. They include a windshield wiper, a doorbell, a curtained theater, a revolving snow-globe, two kinds of pinball games, a "thanks a million" machine, and two kinds of telephones. Each unit has a mechanical initiator (such as a hand crank, a push button, a handle, a lever) and a digital output -- either audio only or video with audio. Each has a plaque with an instruction, such as "Yank that handle. Thanks!" or "Please turn the wheel." or "Hit the bell!" Each kiosk is weatherproofed, protected behind tempered glass and enclosed in a steel box attached to a station column or on a stand in a windscreen. The LCD monitors are heated for the cold Minnesota winters.

ST: What was your role?

JZ: I conceived of the project and then found experts who could make it work technically. It took four years to coordinate. Many people were involved: industrial designers, audio/video experts, interns, electricians, installers, videographers, video editors and more. I met with people in Minnesota for suggestions for the contest, and worked with a panel of judges in Minneapolis and New York City. I phoned or e-mailed all of the more than 200 people who entered the contest, sometimes pairing musicians with videographers. I managed the budget, and had to make sure, despite its size, that it covered this vast project.

ST: Have you had experience with projects like this? JZ: Yes, I do have experience making interactive public projects. One is in Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Communications. Another is in Santa Fe, N.M., at the School of Instructional Technology at Santa Fe Community College. Another is at Walton High School in the Bronx, N.Y. I also made computer-based sculptures for many years. You can see some of these works on my website at www.janetzweig.com

ST: Where did you find the artists for the Twins Cities project?

JZ: There were three phases of the search. First, we held a large open competition a year ago. An intern for the project from Minneapolis, Dawn Lamm, helped me contact as many organizations as possible to put the word out. We listed the competition on scores of Web sites for artists, performers, etc. all over the state. I also came to Minneapolis and interviewed several arts professionals, asking them to recommend talented people to me. From that list, I personally solicited material.

Finally, to broaden the range of the material, I hired Dean J. Seal, former director of the Fringe Festival, to pull in more talent, as well as videographer Paul Bernhardt in Minneapolis to shoot some of those acts. He did an amazing job; most of the "talking heads" in the video collection were shot and edited by Paul.

I had several arts professionals serve as judges in Minneapolis and New York. I took their advice, and then I made the final decisions for the collection. We tried to include something for everyone. There is both humorous and serious work in a variety of artistic genres from a diverse range of talented people who live in Minnesota.

ST: Do other cities have similar projects?

JZ: No other city has a project like this one. There are several public artists who are doing media-based work. The architects Diller and Scofidio, and artists such as Ben Rubin and Jim Campbell have done some marvelous things. Many other programs have commissioned art projects that utilize new media systems such as San Jose, San Francisco, and New York, to name a few.

ST: Earlier news reports said that parts of the LRT art project were delayed by governmental oversight -- some called it micromanaging. Did you have any such problems?

JZ: I work in the field of public art -- there is always oversight, and sometimes a little suspicion of art and artists in every project. I work hard not to allow that oversight to water down my work, but ... to please the client, and to make work that the public will enjoy. As time-consuming as those efforts can be, they come with the territory. Generally, I've been extremely lucky in my public art career in this area. In the end, when I get e-mails from total strangers telling me how much an artwork has brightened their life, as I have with this one, it's all worth it.

ST: What do you say to people who might think that spending for such projects is extravagant?

JZ: I ask them to go out and watch people enjoying the work. I also want them to know that I gave a portion of the commission back to over a hundred talented Minnesotans, giving their work continued exposure in a public venue. I believe that people who think that artwork in society is extravagant don't stop to think about how much of their lives are filled with the hard work of creative people.

ST: The kiosks aren't marked or labeled. In fact, they almost look like they're a working part of the light-rail stations. Why did you go for that effect?

JZ: I noticed that there was a lot of highly visual art at each station already. The stations themselves were also designed by architects working with artists. I didn't want the interactive project to compete with those elements visually, so I decided to make the work more subtle. I thought it would be interesting for people to discover the pieces and be surprised by those discoveries. I wanted the pieces to blend in with the visual language of the light rail itself. In the end, some of the pieces are fairly large and noticeable to make room for all the parts, so that evolved from the initial conception.

ST: Aren't you afraid people won't notice them?

JZ: Not at all. Within the first three weeks, they have been used constantly.

ST: How did you decide on these designs?

JW: Initially, I came up with several ideas for designs, and the general aesthetic. I conceived of the general size, materials, plaques, and placement of the pieces. I then hired ParallelDevelopment, Ltd, an industrial design group in Brooklyn. They came up with more of the design concepts, and then built and engineered all the mechanical pieces. Steven Johnson from Rainville Carlson in Minneapolis installed the kiosks and also beefed them up to withstand the public's intense usage. I hired the audio-video company Scharff Weisberg. Inc. in New York, to set up the whole system. I continue to be amazed at how much audio- video equipment, materials and complex programming went into this project. The people who worked with me at Sharff Weisberg were Josh Weisberg, Ghazal Walker and Barry Grossman. In Minneapolis, XYZ Audio Visual Inc. also worked on that aspect of the installation. OlympiaTech in Minneapolis ran all the conduit and did the electrical wiring.

ST: What reactions were you hoping to draw from the users?

JZ: I want people to enjoy them, and I also want people to be exposed to ideas and artwork that will be thought-provoking and sometimes new for them. That's why I pushed to include poetry, serious interviews, and visually complex work along with the many amusing and lighter pieces in the audio and video collections.

ST: What kind of reactions are you getting?

JZ: People are using the pieces much more than we expected. As I've watched people at the kiosks, I've been amazed at the reactions. Several people have said that they've watched all the videos straight through (about two hours of material!). I see children playing with the mechanical elements and adults seriously watching and listening to the audios and videos. Most of the reactions I've seen are very positive. If a particular video or audio piece bothers someone, I think that should be alright, too. We're lucky to have freedom of speech, and art can and should spark new thought and ideas.

ST: Are you satisfied? Disappointed?

JZ: I'm really thrilled by the reception of the piece by the public. I've gotten terrific feedback. I'm also surprised that the video kiosks seem to capture so much more attention than the audio kiosks. We made many more audio than video kiosks, and there are some really terrific audio pieces. I'm also a bit regretful that I made so many kiosks, 39 in all. By making so many, I stretched the budget a bit too thin.

ST: Which of the kiosks do you enjoy most?

JZ: I like them all. Since the windshield wiper was the first one ParallelDevelopment built, I have a fondness for that one. I also love the doorbell, because it was the first idea I had that spawned the whole mechanical aspect of the project. I was looking at the innards of my own home doorbell, and that gave me the first idea. And the doorbell kiosk has a surprise -- take a look through the peephole.