Alt Ethos are DENVER ARTISTS TO WATCH IN 2018
Alt Ethos is honored to be recognized by 303 Magazine as Denver Artists to Watch 2018. We started this company to band together and create art infused with creative technology that is bigger and better than we could have achieved on our own. Together we create engaging environments by transforming physical spaces into shared interactive experiences that meld various forms of light and sound into creative technology. Our goal is to create moments that disrupt, engage, and inspire that help to elevate museums, public places, events, and others. Please see our write-up below.
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Light displays are no longer exclusive to live concerts—they are being used to create ambiance, mood and improve engagement to many other facets of social interaction. Alt Ethos is a talented group of artists and computer programmers who spend their time “cultivating memorable experiences that disrupt and inspire.” Ranging in age from early 20s to mid-40s, Ethan Bach, Zac Layman, Eric Davis, Paul Elsberg and Amy Lynn Herman each bring their own set of unique skills to the group. “We are trying to create things that are memorable,” Elsberg explained. “Why create things that are memorable? So they can help people find meaning, they can sneak back up on them. I think of really good conversations months or years later and it resonates with me in a new way. And I think that the desire to create art or technology, but really an experience, is the same. It’s about creating a disruptive moment that gets you out of yourself and comes back to you over and over.”
These experiences Alt Ethos designs and curates come in the form of virtual reality programs, projection mapping, digital dome projection and temporary light displays. Each one is particular to the experience Alt Ethos wants to amplify or draw attention to, which makes their style hard to pin down. Much of their energy this coming year will be focused on digital dome projection, where they are casting images or videos onto a half-sphere ceiling [through] the nonprofit that founding member Bach started called Denver Arts and Technology Advancement, or DATA.
The marriage of technology and art comes more easily to the members of Alt Ethos than it does to most. That’s their biggest obstacle at the moment— convincing people that technological art can be just as reliable as the computers we keep in our pockets every day. What puts them on the path to success is their desire to provide education to those who are skeptical or wary, as well as their eye-catching and engaging installations. Just in the first month of this year, Alt Ethos provided unique experiences at two separate parties— the Meow Wolf artist mixer and Moxie’s Dark Fairytale event. Next month they will represent Colorado at a small business showcase in Washington D.C. and as soon as they return they’ll be working (through DATA) on their annual international artist-in-residency program for digital dome projection.
Their largest project so far this year will culminate in November in old town Fort Collins,, where they will continually project images and light onto an exterior mural. The mural artist will work with Alt Ethos to envision a collaborative design in the hopes that Alt Ethos’ projections may illuminate the mural in an enriching manner as well as light it up at night when mural art is not appreciated as much. “We want this to be a one-of-a-kind experience for people,” Layman commented, “and the challenge of making it permanent is part of the joy of doing it.”
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