Bending the Arc

Jennifer Wen Ma

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

In the complex, dynamic and ever-shifting social landscape, individual choices and actions can seem too minute to alter powerful historical currents. However, many landmarks in social change have been ignited by a single action followed by strings of actions, eventually creating a force that courses into a movement. Bending the Arc aims to exemplify the process of affecting change in collaboration with the Flux Night audience; their individual and collective voices become the vehicle for a visible transformation. This collective power is projected onto smoke, which is often associated with tear gas or bombs in periods of social unrest, warfare, and rioting. Here, this ephemeral material is used to manifest the significance of every voice and emphasize the powerful tide of change that occurs when we come together.

A new & original song by Jeryl Bright for Jennifer Wen Ma’s public art project “Bending the Arc.”
Bending the Arc (the song) will have its live premiere performance at the Flux Night finale,
performed by Jeryl Bright, rapper RDK & the GA Tech Chamber Choir.
MIDNIGHT, Saturday November 7th, in Atlanta’s historic Old Fourth Ward.

Creative Technology Director: Guillermo Acevedo
Sound Designers: Jason Freeman, Gerard Roma, Anna Xambó
Recording Artist/Record Producer/Composer: Jeryl Bright, featuring a performance by Nathaniel ‘RDK’ Williams
Georgia Tech Chorale and Chamber Choir directed by Timothy Hsu
& D’Air Aerial Dance Company

About the Artist

Jennifer Wen Ma was born in 1973 in Beijing, China, moved to the United State in 1986, and received her Master of Fine Art degree in 1999 from Pratt Institute, New York. She works and lives between New York and Beijing and has exhibited internationally. Ma’s interdisciplinary practice bridges varied media such as installation, video, drawing, performance, public art, and fashion design; often bringing together unlikely elements in a single piece, creating sensitive, poetic and poignant works.

In 2008, Ma was one of the seven members on the core creative team for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, and the chief designer for visual and special effects. She won an Emmy for the US broadcast of the ceremony.

Support

Thank you to everyone to donated to the project through Indiegogo!

Carol Abdelhalim, aminyard, Thomas aka kidNeutrino Asmuth, Jamie Badoud, Charles Bam, Blake Beckham, Taylor Belshause, Saskia Benjamin, Robin Bernat, Andrea Beus, Steve Brooks, Carrie Burns, Nick Carse, Rebecca Dimling Cochran, Hope Cohn, Elisa Coker, Eric Corriel, Nick Corsello, Alphonzo Cross, Kathleen Dargis, Anne Archer Dennington, Terri Dilling, domarseus, Stephanie Dowda, Ivey Doyal, Jason Eden, Andrea Falls, Jan Fields, Nancy Floyd, Beth Gibbs, John Gibson, Jeff Graham, Tim Habeger, Courtney Hammond, Gyun Hur, Jana Ireijo, Virginia Jackson, Erica Jamison, Aku Kadogo. Paul Kayhart, Jill Kramer, Brian McGuire, Ann-Marie Manker, Julian Mohr, Jr., Laura Moody, John Morse & Ross Pedersen, Michael David Murphy, Michael Neiswander, new freedom, Dorothy OConnor, okorskin, Brett Oliver, Fran Pefko, John Perdue, Ed Price, Seana Reilly, Amy and Ivan Reyes, Malina Rodriguez, Rebecca Safon, Kate Sandhaus, Jeanne Savelle, Sue Schroeder, Douglas Scott, Molly Shepherd, Doug Shipman, Wilma Southern, Deb & Rob Stone, Hazel Studstill, Ciji Tatum, Grayson Thagard, Lisa Thrower, Anne Tracht, Lisa Tuttle, Lisa Tuttle, twokays, Shayne Walsey, Alex Walsh, Mary Walsh, Christina Washington, Jeni Woodbridge, Anonymous