Tj Hughes first visited the Pulitzer Arts Foundation on a high school field trip. Since he is now only 19, that was not very long ago.
“I never thought I’d have one of my creations up in there,” Hughes said. “I still have to process that that’s what’s going on to this day.”
Hughes’ “creation” is featured in “Kota: Digital Excavations in African Art,” the Pulitzer’s first-ever African exhibition, curated by Kristina Van Dyke and Frederic Cloth. Working with the digital group Rampant Interactive, Hughes designed a multi-media exhibit that allows visitors to interact with a database that Cloth produced after studying and sketching 2,000 Kota sculptures from Gabon and the Republic of Congo.
“I was given a rough design guide by my studio mates and told the goal of the exhibit – to let visitors draw their own conclusion about the exhibition as a whole,” Hughes said.
Hughes’ design allows visitors to interact with Cloth’s database using a touch-screen table where you can move around cards corresponding to the various sculptures in the show. Guests are invited to try their hand at making their own groupings of Kota sculptures according to whatever variables they choose. This process is broadcast on the walls of the room using data clouds of light.
“I made it move,” Hughes said of the design. “I can make things move. I make things fluid and interactive.”
Remarkably, the young man taught himself how to do these complex things, with no formal education. He started with a love of video games and a desire to create them, then he looked on the internet. “There are tons of free resources,” Hughes said. “People can look online and learn for themselves.”
Hughes started to design his own video games and post screen shots of his work on Twitter (@_Teejay5). It was there that principals with Rampant Interactive discovered him. They invited him to their studio in Maplewood, began to offer him contract work last summer, then finally offered him a full-time position in May.
“The dream job I had been working for was handed to me,” Hughes said.
His first major project as a Rampant Interactive staffer was the installation at the Pulitzer. The museum’s building at 3716 Washington Ave. was designed by the world-renowned – and also self-taught – Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Its simple but dramatic architecture appealed to Hughes as a field-tripping Crossroads College Prep student.
“The Pulitzer resonated with me,” Hughes said. “I liked the architecture of the building. Architecture inspires me. I see so much artistic value in it.”
He developed his eye for architecture by playing, and then designing, video games. He pointed out that architecture is a critical part of interactive game designing, since the game’s characters need to navigate some simulation of physical space and structures.
“It’s an important part of a video game’s practical design,” Hughes said of architecture, “and then you also have the challenge to make it look good.”
Hughes inherited artistic instincts from his mother, the local artist Andrea Hughes. His father, Clifton McBride Jr., was a musician who also enjoyed “techy things like me,” his son said.
“Combine those two minds and you get a game designer,” Hughes said. “I combine what my mom taught me about art and what my dad taught me about technology to make what I make.”
Sadly, his father did not live to see his installation at the Pulitzer. McBride succumbed from complications stemming from diabetes on May 10, about the time his son started working full-time at Rampant Interactive. “He was proud of me,” said his son, named “Taj” (“Tj” is his nickname).
The Pulitzer has taken a technological approach to Kota sculpture, but in its original cultural context, these were reliquary sculptures that guarded the physical remains of ancestors. One sculpture installed at the Pulitzer includes what’s left of those physical remains.
Hughes said he had not reflected upon the loss of his father, his ancestor, in connection to the work he did based on these ancestral power figures, but he does feel their power whenever he goes to work at the Pulitzer.
“I do regard them as powerful figures, though I didn’t experience any spiritual effect,” Hughes said. “You can feel a power emanating from them. Whether you choose to be creeped out or not is sort of up to you.”
“Kota: Digital Excavations in African Art” runs until March 19 at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, 3716 Washington Ave.
Rampant at the Pulitzer
In residence. Tj Hughes and his colleagues at Rampant Interactive have residency hours in the Kota ProtoLab in the basement of the Pulitzer from 10 a.m.-4 pm on select Thursdays and Saturdays through March. Rampant will be working in the ProtoLab and available for questions or discussions. Upcoming dates: January 7, 9, 14 and 16.
Happy hours. The Pulitzer will host Happy Hour with Rampant Interactive 4-6 p.m. Thursday, January 14 and 3-5 p.m. Saturday, January 23.
ProtoLab studio opening. For the conclusion of a three-week intensive program with Rampant and Pulitzer staff, local teens will present a curated installation of 3D printed Kota models 4-5 p.m. Saturday, February 6.
Musical collaboration. Throughout a week of prototyping with Rampant, musician Phil Hayes will develop and share a project that ascribes musical cues to the raw data of Kota figures. Open hours: February 10-13. Presentation of “Procedural Music with a Cultural Seed”: 6-8 p.m. Saturday, February 13.
Kota, data and robotics. Rob Santos – robotics specialist and lead game developer at Pixel Press – will participate in a week of prototyping in the ProtoLab, applying statistical analysis and principles of robotics to the study of Kota. Open hours: February 24-27. Presentation: 6-8 p.m. Saturday, February 27.
Residency wrap-up. The Rampant residency concludes 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 10, with reception to follow. Moderated by co-curator Kristina Van Dyke, this discussion with Rampant and other tech professionals will explore potential applications for their project in the fields of art, gaming, education and digital humanities.
