DATE: APRIL 21, 2014
FROM: MARCEE RONDAN/AARON FETERL/BARI LIEBERMAN
COUNTERPOINT
MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL:
ONSITE ART TO ENHANCE THE NATURAL BEAUTY
OF THE 5000-ACRE
KINGSTON DOWNS, GEORGIA SITE
The art for this week’s COUNTERPOINT MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL will not only enhance the natural beauty of the Kingston Downs festival site–wide-open, perfectly groomed green grass fields and rolling hills, with beautiful views of the Georgia mountains–but it will also serve as an interactive, creative experience for the participating artists and festival-goers as well.
One of the goals of CounterPoint’s art director Greg Mike is to not only enhance the natural elements of the festival’s site, but also to build on that, utilizing pops of color not always seen in nature. “My vision on this project was to take the beautiful CounterPoint lands and amplify it with a contemporary twist,” he says. “Working with a pop color palette, lighting effects, optical illusional sculptures mixed with a heavy influence of street and contemporary art my goal was to add visual stimulation and live elements which create movement and juxtaposition over the three-day festival.”
Some of the festival’s onsite art highlights will includesculptures, live art, lighting effects, custom environments and tree decor, utilizing the sites natural elements. Two of the on-site installations featured around the Kingston Downs site are a result of a contest staged in conjunction with the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). The winners–Ross Hepner and Taylor Kuzma–worked as a team to develop two concepts: the #CPFLOWER, a fully immersive art installation inspired by nature and color that will provide shade during the day and illuminate during the night and a live string art installation integrating the classic CounterPoint circle logo.
Meanwhile, serving as the center point of the festival’s art scene, the Heineken House is a multi-sensory experience, featuring a Live Art Pyramid as its core. Standing over 35-feet tall, the pyramid encompasses 12 massive live art walls to be hand-painted over the three days at CounterPoint this spring. Some of the highlights include public wifi, a showcase of world class visual artists, a covered bar with four entrances, lounge seating surrounding the structure and a variety of visually stimulating lighting effects. A variety of acclaimed local and national artists including Tristan Eaton (Los Angeles), Ricky Watts (San Francisco), Christina Angelina (Los Angeles), Johnny Robles (Miami), Douglas Hoekzema (Miami), Nosego (Philadelphia), Peter Ferrari (Atlanta) and Nick Benson (Atlanta) and Trey Moseley (Atlanta) will allbe on hand at the Heineken House painting live throughout this weekend.
To further their commitment to art, festival organizers commissioned Moseley to create a limited edition original print inspired by CounterPoint. “To me, CounterPoint represents that optimism and transition, a celebration of the changes in our cultural and artistic landscape that also serves as an oasis in the chaos of our daily lives. This piece is meant to be a reminder of those times of optimistic change, crystallizing the spring of 2014.”
In addition, a variety of interactive art installations are being created to engage festival-goers throughout the weekend including a custom photobooth, scavenger art hunts (concert-goers can participate in the “Counter-Kittens Scavenger Hunt” by Catlanta–https://www.facebook.com/catlantaart. Known for his famous cat “cutouts,” Catlanta spreads love one cat at a time with his “kitten drops” where his followers are alerted via social media to search for them and adopt them into their homes. During the CounterPoint weekend, Catlanta will be releasing some Counter-Kittens into the wild on the festival site) and the Heineken Community Art-wall at the Heineken House Art Pyramid, which is being designed as a collaborative piece in which festival attendees are encouraged to get inspired by the CounterPoint experience and “open their world” creatively by painting a piece that will be incorporated into a collaborative large scale installation piece.
The CounterPoint Music & Arts Festival–Friday, April 25, Saturday, April 26 and Sunday, April 27–is highlighted by the much-anticipated hometown return of Outkast, who will close out Sunday night. Foster The People will wrap up Saturday’s performances, with Pretty Lights Live Band topping the bill on Friday night. As previously announced, a special Thursday, April 24 pre-fest celebration will conclude with sets from EXMAG and Star Slinger (separate ticket required). View the festival schedule below or online here: lineup.counterpointfestival.com/schedule.
A limited number of weekend passes ($199 for three days GA and $224 GA with camping) and single day tickets ($90 per day) remain available at the festival’s final ticket price. VIP, camping and $20 pre-party passes (for the Thursday kick-off event) are also available. More information on all the ticketing and camping options can be found at http://www.counterpointfestival.com/. Questions, comments or concerns regarding orders, please contact Front Gate Tickets or by phone, 888-512-SHOW (7469) 9:00 AM-9:00 PM (CT) Monday-Saturday.
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