CINCINNATI.- Sound, light and video will make the Cincinnati Art Museum come alive this spring through the site-specific multimedia exhibition Arenas, created by the internationally-renowned Cincinnati artist, Anthony Luensman. The playful, museum-wide exhibition will consist of 11 installations, many of which are inspired by specific works from the Art Museum's permanent collection. Arenas will be on view March 10 through May 20.

"The Art Museum will become a stage set into which audiences will experience visual phenomenas of sound and light," said artist Anthony Luensman. "The exhibition will present more personal and individual “arenas” of these installations in the public “arenas” of the Art Museum.

Audiences will discover the various arenas created by Luensman throughout the Art Museum. Windshield Waterfall, an actual windshield wiper positioned in the center of a waterfall located on the front plaza balcony, will introduce visitors to what Luensman considers to be Arenas’ billboard – an immediate presentation of a nontraditional arena using nontraditional materials.

“I want people’s expectations cleared upon entering the Art Museum,” said Luensman. “The wiper and water symbolize clearing your mind and opening up to new perspectives to the collection and its role in our society.”

Luensman’s fascination with video and sound will further open visitors’ minds to new interpretations. Whistling Boy will feature an ambiguous source of sound that creates a ghostly whistling melody, which leads visitors to Frank Duveneck's, The Whistling Boy (1872). Man in Nature: Nipple Sunrise, Belly Flowers and Ear Moon will display a series of repeat video clips on LCD screens located through the galleries. Luensman considers these to be individual paintings that explore the varying moods and themes of the Art Museum.

“What Tony has done is to create bridges between our collection and our senses,” says Aaron Betsky, Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum. “In doing so, he has used technology to open up new dimensions in works we thought we knew too well.”

Inspired by his early childhood memories, Luensman's art often displays a playfulness and evocation of youth. Forsythias and Fireflies will present a magical backdrop to the Art Museum’s Cincinnati Wing entrance. It will consist of 80 acrylic cube frames, spiral-wrapped wire, LEDs and silk forsythia flowers. As a complement to Forsythias and Fireflies, Tree House will display an actual tree house built atop a tree made of metal scaffolding. The walls of the tree house are composed of milk glass, which will allow a motorized shadow display of childlike gestures to come through the glass. Also, beneath the trees visitors will find an area of sand from which bubble-like memories will project on LCD screens.

National and international residency and exhibition opportunities from Detroit to Taipei have helped Luensman broaden his thematic scope and visual vocabulary, and have also led to successful collaborations in music, dance and installation.

Luensman has received numerous grants, two Ohio Arts Council Artist Fellowships, an exhibition co-sponsorship from the National Endowment for the Arts and has also been nominated for the Nancy Graves Foundation, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award and the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Lucelia Artist Award.

This exhibition is generously supported by Tom and Dee Stegman, Allan and Jennie Berliant, and Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell.