H3O is an event series and platform for research that transforms select sites along bodies of water into immersive experiences in sound, expanded cinema, and new media installation. In this series, the Drift partners with artists, musicians, and technologists to develop audiovisual experiences that explore fluidity as an aesthetic, conceptual, and contextual body of inquiry.
Curated by the Drift and co-presented with the Center for Urban Intervention Research (CUIR), H3O/OO2 took place on May 10th 2015 beneath the Veteran's Bridge along the north shore of the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh.
For H3O/OO2, the Drift partnered with CUIR and students from a course offered by CUIR director Ali Momeni in the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University. Throughout the semester, the Drift, CUIR and students in the course developed a custom array of audio/visual rigs and installations, virtual reality experiences, and site specific performances.
In addition to these collaborations and student projects, the Drift curated a selection of 15 works, commissioning 6 new pieces for debut, by an international group of artists working in video, animation, and sound.
All video content presented in H3O/OO2 was provided courtesy of each artist with the exception of Mud by artist Neal Moignard (2015) which was provided generously in kind by the National Film Board of Canada. H3O is supported in part by funding from the Frank-Ratchye Fund For Art @ the Frontier, and the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts. Technical equipment and expertise provided courtesy of the Center for Urban Intervention Research and Iontank.
Image still from Mud by Neal Moignard (2015), an animated short featured in H3O/OO2, image courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada.
The Veteran's Bridge in Pittsburgh, PA, photo by Steve Gurysh