Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Diversion Design/Build Studio is a student-led creative experiment exploring the rich experiential qualities of music, architecture and landscape through the design and realization of temporary celebratory spaces, in particular a 1000-person outdoor music performance venue called the Treeline Stage at the annual Pickathon Music Festival every August at Pendarvis Farm, Happy Valley, Oregon, USA. The initiative deploys two core strategies in the design and installation of these full-size festival structures the temporary diversion, use and return of standard industrial materials, and, the temporary diversion of human experience from the mundane to the festive, the latter being one of the three key dimensions of the capacity for manifesting beauty identified by Gadamer alongside play and symbol. Pickathon has been at the leading edge of a growing number of arts organizations committed to the idea that collective gathering around the arts, particularly festivals, need not require an enormous carbon footprint if it engages thoughtful design. The Pickathon story, now in its 20th year, involves a constant re-thinking of the way materials are used and how consumption can be minimized, such as banning bottled water. Its founders continue to insist upon a creative agenda in all aspects of the event, thus inspiring a crucial conversation between the sustainable and the poetic. Using the example of five unique Treeline Stage designs, this paper argues for the continued relevance of festival experience for human meaning, where an ethics of making and material responsibility lies at the foundation of the possibility of community.