The Spirit Artist.

Brooke Shaden joins Flickr's MODE Festival as their Artist-in-Residence, bringing a four-part interactive art series called Murmurations to the event. The residency will contain an abstract ten-minute play created for participants to photograph three different sets within the performance, a legacy piece of printed artwork where community members will be photographed and composited into the large-scale piece, which will be gifted to the city of Minneapolis, two interactive art installations representing the art and artists of MODE, and a keynote speech. A murmuration [noun] mur·​mur·​a·​tion ˌmərməˈrāshən: a flock of birds that come together to fly in a pattern, share information, and commune. Just like a murmuration of birds, artists are more inspired and more innovative in community. Each of Brooke's curations highlights what it means to live as an artist in transience, never finished with their work, always learning, and how to let go of your art after you create it.

A conversation with artists on what happens when photography moves beyond the still image, becoming experiences, installations, and objects that invite, and sometimes demand, participation. A discussion about where the medium is going and what it means to make work that exists in space rather than on a wall.

Created in a warehouse space, you will arrive to be photographed in a head-to-toe white suit, which you will splatter in dark blue paint however you choose. You will then lie on the floor as Brooke's camera, mounted above, captures you as if you are falling through the sky. Shooting tethered, Brooke will live-edit each participant into a growing composition in which hundreds if not thousands of people appear to be falling, or spread across the sky. The edit is projected on the wall beside you as you pose, so you can watch yourself become part of the work in real time. The final image will be printed mural-size and displayed publicly in Minneapolis. As you discard your paint-splattered suit, it will be collected and suspended from a wide ceiling panel alongside every other participant's — a hanging chorus of empty suits symbolizing the shell the artist leaves behind when we return to isolation.