The Berwick Announces 2006 PAI Resident John Ewing

The Berwick Research Institute is excited to announce John Ewing as the 2006
recipient of the Public Art Incubator Residency

From May through August, artist John Ewing will embark on the development of Virtual Street Corners, a project that will use video conferencing technology to explore the city of Boston and the various boundaries its residents navigate ­ physical, social, and psychological. By using cameras, microphones, and large-scale video displays to create reconstructed street corners around Boston, the project will offer residents and passers-by portals of sight and sound between disparate neighborhoods and across social and geographical lines. Ewing plans to use the residency period to develop the video portal devices, connect with residents and community members in potential installation sites, and explore ways to use the technology as a tool for interactivity and dialogue.

John Ewing is a digital media artist and muralist who creates public art with an emphasis on community participation and social justice. He spent two years in El Salvador with an international development organization, using the arts to organize and inspire dialogue about human rights. Other work includes projects in Nicaragua, Uruguay and Cuba, as well as various cities in the U.S. Local projects include Symphony of a City, which portrayed Boston from 8 different perspectives by installing "headcams" on residents and projecting the resulting video footage on city hall and streaming it on the web www.symphonyofacity.org.

Currently he is an MFA candidate at Rhode Island School of Design and directs HUMAN, a Juvenile Rights Advocacy Project in Dorchester that teaches art to incarcerated girls.

Welcome John!