Best Unofficial Public Art 2013 | The Big Blue Bear Takes a Big Blue Dump | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Unofficial Public Art

The Big Blue Bear Takes a Big Blue Dump

One fine spring morning, we woke up to find that our beloved Big Blue Bear — Lawrence Argent's "I See What You Mean,"a sculpture of a giant bear peering into the Colorado Convention Center — had taken a big blue dump. It was not the first time our own Ursa Major had been the focus of guerrilla street art (in 2011, the Ladies Fancywork Society attached him to a gigantic blue-yarn ball and chain), but this urban twist on the old adage about a bear shitting in the woods was — how should we say it? — an instance of scatalogical genius, though it left the city in a tizzy about what to do with the perfectly matched papier-mâché turd. As far as we know, the great talent behind the blue poo never came forward, and therefore, the bear pie must have been flushed, as promised, by the city. But the prank left behind at least one enduring message: Denver has a sense of humor.

Best Use of Multimedia

Ed, Downloaded

Ed, Downloaded was a feast for the senses, from James Kronzer's scenery to Brian Tovar's lighting to Tyler Nelson's evocative sound to Charles I. Miller's video design. And director Sam Buntrock had previously won critical acclaim in both London and New York for his stunning and visually sophisticated revival of Sondheim's Sunday in the Park With George. But the tech wasn't just about aesthetics: It was entertainment and information in its own right. It interacted with the script and kept your brain alert — contrasting, inferring, making connections. Images lingered afterward of two lovers in a snowy, silver-blue woodland, a woman cutting up oranges, the spare lines of a modern kitchen, rows of bubbling stands topped by glowing boxes that supposedly contained human memories.

Best Use of Video

Date

Autobiographical one-person plays can be tedious, but when Luciann Lajoie decided to create Date, a piece about her online dating experiences, she avoided narcissism by asking a hundred people for their stories and then intertwining these vignettes with her personal narrative. As a result, the audience in this Denver Center Theatre production at Off-Center@The Jones learned what it's like to brave the world of Internet dating for people of different ages and races, for someone desperately lonely, recently widowed, HIV-positive or just goofing around. Some of Denver's best actors appeared on the videos reading these pieces: Longtime real-life married couple Sallie Diamond and Ed Baierlein played a pair who met happily online; Karen Slack was hilarious as a good Jewish girl looking for a good Jewish guy. It all made for a highly entertaining Date.

Best Way to Learn How to DJ

Global DJ Academy

While most DJs spend a great deal of time, effort and money pursing their craft — only to learn the biggest lessons through trial and error — Walt White has created a school at which would-be DJs not only get instruction in how to mix and match beats, but can also try out their skills in a live club setting using the same tools as the big-name DJs. Along with that firsthand experience, students get tips and tricks from those who are already in the game. While purists may blanch, the Global DJ Academy offers an affordable alternative to anyone interested in taking this career for a spin.

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