Near West Side Partners hosts a one-night outdoor film exhibition on Friday, Sept. 7 as the Mobile Lantern Film Exhibition projects films by local artists onto neighborhood buildings.
Inspired by Montreal’s ongoing Cité Mémoire – which projects films onto buildings and trees – local filmmaker Tate Bunker and others have teamed with NWSP on Mobile Lantern, which kicks off at 5 p.m.
The films will be projected near the Mobile Design Box studio, located in the former Tower Theater, on 27th Street between Wisconsin Avenue and Wells Street.
"We gathered a handful of film artists to exhibit film in a way that will not only highlight the art but shows off the architecture of the 27th Street Corridor," says Mobile Design Box's Melissa Muller, who is also a graphic artist at Quorum Architects and arts coordinator for the Washington Park Neighbors.
Muller collaborated with Bunker, Dominic Inouye and Near West Side Partners Executive Director Keith Stanley on the project.
"Tate Bunker’s vision was to start an annual event that is also a spectacle. My goal is to bring the neighborhood residents out to see their community in a new way."
Bunker's own work will flicker on the side of the SOHI Lofts at 27th and Wells, while work by DanceCircus, Katinka Hooyer, Rosella Joseph, Kenneth Kornacki, Jose Antonio Lozano, Jenny and Nova Plevin, Highland Community School student Mara Gramling will be screened on other nearby buildings.
"We have some amazing film by a crazy diverse section of film makers reflecting on race, immigration, veterans, student life and a bunch of blinking eyes that are 10 stories high," says Muller.
During the event, FREESPACE, which connects young musicians with experienced artists for regular all-ages showcase performances (and is seeking to occupy the former State Theater), will perform on a grassy lot next to 2622 W. Wisconsin Ave., and there will be a variety of refreshments available, too, from Funky Fresh Spring Rolls, Karol’s Kitchen, Pete’s Pops, Mouth & Muscle and Bebe’s Bistro.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
