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M.I.K.E.
artist Richard Saxton
year 2006
language(s) English
location  UNITED STATES, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
region 1 North (North)
index no. 13.1.01
media Audio CD
about the media The audio cd, stuck in a leaflet with information, collects 10 songs recorded by villagers in the travelling studio of M.I.K.E.
 
The studio on the move
The inside
 
about the project Richard Saxton and Stuart Hyatt invented the M.I.K.E., a Music Integrated Kiosk Environment. The M.I.K.E. is a booth, sculpture and studio all in one, created from parts of a grain bin. It can be relocated by truck. Hometown of the M.I.K.E. is the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, but it travels in the region.
 
On location the M.I.K.E. was used to record an original CD featuring over 70 composers, musicians, storytellers, poets, and other community members. The CD in the box consists of 10 songs, all written and recorded by children and adults from the region in August 2006.
 
Stuart Hyatt commenting on the recording part of the project: “Utopian/Visionary concepts, cooperation, the intermingling of human beings and nature - this is exactly what is happening through the music, inside during the recording process. It is not as if a polished band is coming inside to cut a record. What is happening, is that people are approaching this strange structure with curiosity - they walk up, they ask about it, they come back to participate, to sing and play and become a part of something bigger. In doing so, they have had a great art experience I think - where M.I.K.E. is the medium through which people connect, in ways they might not have without it being there.”
 
about artist and participants Richard Saxton is a contemporary artist working in the fields of sculpture, architecture, design, and public art. Most of the work he does lands somewhere between art, architecture, design, and social intervention. Richards work has been exhibited internationally and his permanent projects are located at the Center for Land Use Interpretation in Wendover and in the City of York.
 
In 2002, Saxton founded the municipalWORKSHOP, an independent public art laboratory. Through a collective art-making model, the municipalWORKSHOP creates public art projects with municipalities, community-based organizations and community members. The municipalWORKSHOP has developed a diverse range of public projects and has creatively engaged citizens through their projects, creative research, proposals, exhibitions and seminars.
 
organisations municipalWORKSHOP, TEAM Records
 
links www.municipalworkshop.org          
 
 
MIKE found a spot
Playing from the booth
 
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