With this year’s Burning Man Music and Arts Festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert sold out for the first time, it’s no surprise that Denise Gallant wants to showcase local artists’ contributions to the event in the first episode of her new show. In The Loop: Art & Technology, an interview-style TV series that will air new episodes monthly on Community Television of Santa Cruz County starting this Friday at 8:30pm, presents the creators of the colossal art featured at the weeklong gathering that happens Aug. 29-Sept. 5, including Santa Cruz’s Kilovolt, whose electric art made with tesla coils appeared at last year’s Burning Man.
It’s a perfect introduction to the show. Produced by Video 4, the series shines a light on locals whose creative work blends art and technology—from UCSC astrophysicists who use 3D graphics to show simulations of outer space to choreographers like Tandy Beal and musicians such as Mambo Tropical. Gallant is specifically interested in how the two concepts of art and technology overlap and connect in various projects. “Pee-wee’s Playhouse. That’s what I was calling it to people at first,” says Gallant. “The show is open to interpretation to whoever is going to be on it.”
Unlike any other show that has aired on Community Television of Santa Cruz County, all donations made to support In the Loop: Art & Technology go to the station; in the past, the money producers raised would go only to their own programs. Because the station is one of the few places in town where people can go to continue their education in television and video, Gallant, a video teacher, says she is happy to lend the show’s support. And the Executive Director of CTV, Mary Ann Thyken, couldn’t be more grateful.
“The show is being used as a station fundraising vehicle,” says Thyken. “It shows people what you can do with community television—you can take on a topic that isn’t being discussed anywhere else in the county. For us that’s fantastic.”
IN THE LOOP premieres Friday, Aug. 5 at 8:30pm on Comcast Channel 27.
