The rain starts just as Garrett Franzino locks his bike. The third-year art major walks into a warehouse space that’s filled to the brim with artwork, lights, and loud music. Students in the Master of Fine Arts program at Carnegie Mellon organized the exhibition, called Extra Fancy, to celebrate the 10th birthday of Future Tenant, a joint project between the university and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust that provides a laboratory setting for artists, arts managers, and audiences. Future Tenant isn’t tied to a venue; rather, it takes up residence wherever there is access to space. On this Friday night, the space just a few miles from campus, at Bakery Square, a mixed-use development whose best-known tenant is Google Pittsburgh.

Franzino walks through the crowd, past a spinning light show of crystals and two robots about to fight each other. A large screen, playing scenes filmed by a balloon in the sky, draws him to a far corner of the concrete building. The screen stretches around him with whirling clouds, making him feel suspended in the sky as if he is spiraling from a free-fall. Franzino, a skydiver who dreamed of flying as a child, connects to this piece on an intimate level.

Tearing himself away, he mingles throughout the crowd, contemplating the other art projects. He appreciates how the somewhat chaotic atmosphere seems to immerse people in the art much more than a typical gallery experience in which viewers stand in a well-lit room and look individually at each work. Here, the crowd has even become part of the show thanks, in part, to a balloon artist and an airbrush tattoo sculptor who are providing audience makeovers. Extravagant balloon hats begin to fill the building, adding color and playfulness to the already festive birthday party. Franzino considers getting an airbrush tattoo, but the line is long and he’s not sure about making a weeklong commitment to something silly on his arm.

Instead, after the rain stops, Franzino—stuffed from free pizza, chips, and birthday cake—ventures outside to the moon bounce set up at the entrance. Nobody here seems worried about being too old for jumping around in a plastic fort. As Franzino bounces higher and higher, emulating again that feeling of flight, he forgets about gravity and the art project he has to finish by weekend’s end.
—Olivia London (DC’13)

Related Links:
2012 1st/2nd Year MFA Exhibition: Extr Fancy (flickr)