Adam Bateman

I've started a new interactive art project, following a new direction) I'm exploring my cultural identity as a White Male Utahn of Mormon descent. Do I have a unique cultural identity? Is my culture worth exploring? 

I believe that there is a movement going on simultaniously in the Utah art world and in American pop-culture, where Utah-ness and Mormon-ness is being validated as a bonafide culture. Examples of this are Napoleon Dynamite's huge success, recent coverage on Mormons in magazines like Newsweek and Rolling Stone. There are also several young artists with Utah ties living in Utah and eslewhere who are exploring this through thier music, visual art, and writing.

I am currently working on an interactive project in an attempt to explore Utah identity through daily snapshots taken with my camera on my cell phone. I've started a blog at utahidentity.blogspot.com. what follows comes from the introduction of my blog:

Starting January 1, 2006, I will make daily posts of snapshots of icons that represent Utah or Mormon Identity (ideas I think are related, but not synonymous). This is an attempt at an interactive art project that I hope will help to identify a bonefide minority culture in the United States--Utah Culture. I believe Utahns are different in some important ways than other people around the country. These differences, I believe, are greatly influenced by Mormonism, but are also influenced by the unique topography and landscape of the state. As I make these daily posts, I hope that you, the cyberspace public, will react to my posts. I want your opinions. Do these photos represent Mormon or Utah culture? Is this a real culture? Is it in fact different than other cultures? Do the photos, in fact, mean nothing at all?

At the end of one year, I will compile the posts and coments from this blog and bind them. When this work is exhibited, it will take the form of 4"x6" photographs mounted on cintra board and hung on the gallery wall in the form of a calendar. Each day will be represented by its respective photograph on its respective day of the month. Each month configuration will hang beside the next, chronologically representing the entire calendar year. The bound compilation of blog entries and comments will be availible at the gallery and there will be a kiosk availible where a visitor can access the blog via internet.

Visit: utahidentity.blogspot.com