JUSTIN TYLER TATE
Justin Tyler Tate was born in Canada, grew up in the United States and now works internationally. Receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts from NSCAD University and a Master of Fine Arts from Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts, his work combines elements of sculpture, installation, media, performance as well as social art. During the past decade as a professional artist he has exhibited more than 100 projects, in +20 countries and on 4 continents. His practice draws knowledge from various fields and marries them in order to find solutions to contemporary problems. Architecture, carpentry, botany, cooking, electronics, chemistry, new-media, and more are all merged under a singular umbrella of artistic production. Tate is occasionally a curator, author, social designer as well as a frequent workshop facilitator focusing on utilization of available materials, tools and site specificity.
View more of Justin's work at justintylertate.weebly.com.
TRACK & TRAIL (2022)
Track & Trail encourages its users to play and explore by rewarding them through the generation of light and power. The installation was designed as a site-specific response to the locally discarded materials used in its construction, as well as the forms which comprise the local natural and man-made landscape. The elements contained within the structure offer a myriad of ways and means which to interact, play with, view and explore the installation, one’s body, social relationships as well as the environment.
Playgrounds are oases for play, experimentation, exploration, learning and socialization surrounded by the banality of adult life. Johan Huzinga ,a Dutch cultural theorist, speculated in his 1938 book ‘Homo Ludens’ that play is critically important in the generation of culture and society. As such Track & Trail seeks to not only generate culture, but also power, turning that which is seen as waste (in terms of time spent playing as well as discarded materials) as that which is able to give life to society.
Thus the opportunity presented by the Moab Arts Reuse Residency was utilized to make an example of how divergent problem solving can be employed to mitigate climate crisis; whereby what might be seen as unrelated elements can be brought together in the production of energy, reduction of greenhouse gases as well as waste, and the empowerment of society as a whole. Through the installation, play is just as beneficial for those who participate in it as it is for society as a whole - as a localized micro-solution to the problem of electricity generation and waste disposal.
In a contemporary world where most people live and work in ways that are increasingly inactive, but dependent on external energy sources, Track & Trail seeks to reverse that situation by creating an oasis where energy is created by being physically active - and in doing so illuminates the landscape through action, socialization and play.
FAKE IT 'TIL YOU MAKE IT
Justin also hosted a free (mystery!) workshop for curious individuals who like being surprised and want to broaden their skillset. Attendees created musical instruments from refuse collected from WabiSabi and the Community Recycling Center.
From Justin's website: Fake It Till You Make It is a series of workshops on different subjects which could fall under areas of expertise such as construction, making, baking, electronics, mechanics, cooking, jewelry, physics, plants, and whatever else can be imagined. It is the purpose of the workshop to learn new things for the sake of learning and it is for this reason that participants will only discover the subject of each session upon arriving to the workshop. During the class there will be a short talk about the subject and how to accomplish the objective of the FITYMI session followed by participants choosing how to proceed (experimenting with materials, accomplishing a project, discussion and/or playing) with food available at some point during the workshop.
