Lincoln Schatz Systems Building on Systems

Lincoln Schatz

Systems building on Systems

Visiting artist Lincoln Schatz came to GWU for a lecture on his latest projects interviewing neighborhoods in Chicago about the violence in their community. His documentation records conversations with Lincoln interviewing individuals and their experiences involving shootings and other violent happenings. Once the video is recorded, it is converted to a software which rewrites the information in a new language choosing random time. The random sequence becomes less of a documentary and transforms into a artistic social change project determined by the software, it then layers sound with the image. The result is then transferred to his website http://www.ceasefirechicago.org/and other Chicago venues to continue the conversation.

Public art, social media, participation and social change inspire his technologic creations. He studied at Bennington College in Vermont where he earned his BFA. Since then he has shown works all around the world. Nationally his works have been recognized at the Catherine Clark Gallery in San Francisco and the Cube gallery in New York.

I attended lunch at the Thai Place with the other MFA’s where we got to sit and chat with Lincoln about ideas. He asked us, “What are you looking at?” We went around the table to describe our research. Shortly after lunch I had the opportunity to have a critique with him. His knowledge of networks and community building encouraged me to promote community events and push the idea of flash mobs. The impact of feedback is the driving force with his media and I encourage others to follow him at http://lincolnschatz.com for inspiration.