Artist/designer Luke Schantz specializes in video, lighting, electronics and live entertainment. All of those skills come together in his work as media designer for Blue Man Group and with individual artists like Ralph Lemon and Carey Young. He's got lots to say about being both a 3rd Ward member and instructor; currently teaching MaxMSP and 3D Design for animation, with plans to teach a survey course called "Trends and Topics in the Techno-sphere." And that's only a small part of what's on his plate--which explains why he's never been out in the sun for an interval longer than 15 minutes (seriously).

Read on to find out what keeps him so happily occupied.  

3W: In what capacity do you “use” 3rd Ward?

LS: I have quite a bit of equipment, furniture and materials stuffed into less than 200-square feet of space at 3rd Ward.  It’s a collection of new and old; some functional items are almost 100 years old, including a workbench that my grandfather built as a child.  For most of my life, I haven’t had a proper studio to work in, so the past year and a half here has been amazing.  I had caches of tools, materials and ideas waiting for some time and space to work.  It has taken me months and countless trips around the tri-state to unite these parts.  And when I say "unite these parts," I mean it in the Voltron sense of "unite these parts.”

My space at 3rd Ward reflects both the practical and the symbolic. I have a lovely collection of medical devices and implements, some of which I wouldn’t want to use for an actual operation.  But just having them together as a collection alters the environment in a way that helps me really consider what’s going on with modern bio-medical advancements and the burgeoning trans-humanist culture.  People stop me in the hall and ask me about my bone setting apparatus, which creates an opportunity to talk about the engineer who designed his own heart valve, and that opens up a dialogue about transhumanism…