Interview with an artist: Owen Lowery speaks on universal design and finding your passion

An in-depth look at an artist’s values, ideas and advice

By John Mahoney

Owen Lowery is an artist known for his fascinating interactive exhibits and eccentric attitude, and during his residency at KU, he brought much of that flare to his exhibition at the Miller Art Gallery.  

“Control” is a KU exclusive exhibition full of Lowery’s signature interactive art pieces, including body tracking, sound manipulation and the use of old technology to create a family-friendly, curiosity-guided experience.  

“My goal is to create art that fosters curiosity. I’m a very silly person, but I take curiosity very seriously,” Lowery said. “I’m asking people to explore, have fun and play around. And you know, just sitting and watching is just as valid too.” 

“Control” is a project Lowery confesses he’s been dreaming of for a long time. It is an interactive showcase utilizing old technology where the user essentially creates the art themselves.  

“It uses old remote controls from like, the 80s, 90s and 2000s, because old technology is just super cool to me. It’s dirty, it’s old, but it’s nostalgic for me. Now it’s used to create a collective piece of art that everyone makes together,” Lowery said. 

Lowery has also made use of surface transducers, speakers that transmit vibrations into the surface they’re placed on, in order to further enhance the immersion of the experience. 

“I love using surface transducers or sound exciters, which are those little speakers I have attached to the benches and the sound comes through the benches. The sound from the benches will also affect the body tracking devices and the geometric shapes when your body moves,” Lowery said. “It all comes together.” 

Part of the reason Lowery loves to utilize so many sensory devices in his work is because he firmly believes in incorporating universal design into his art.  

Universal design is the practice of creating an environment that is equitable and inclusive and lends to as many people as possible, making sure that resources or items are accessible, understandable and usable regardless of a person’s age, race, ethnicity, or any other personal factor.  

Lowery has said that his goal is to open the door to the art world to as many as possible, especially those who have been outed or shunned from it. 

“Art right now is seen as elite. I get to experiment and make art that’s different and not what people expect. I want people to feel like art is for them,” Lowery said. 

Lowery also said that he aims to do more than make art that “says” it’s for everyone, by attempting to make art that “is” for everyone, or at least realistically as many people as he can. Lowery emphasized the importance of inclusion in art, exemplifying this through his interactive remote-controlled projector screen exhibit. 

“Most blind people still perceive light to some degree, and so with the screens and patterns going light to dark, dark to light and changing colors, there’s a lot fixed in here that those with visual impairment can still observe and interact, even though their vision is different than ours,” said Lowery. 

He also explained how the deaf community may also partake in his exhibit.  

“A deaf person could sit down on one of the benches, and they don’t have to hear the changes, they can feel them. They can experience the art through touch. And everything is connected,” he said. 

Lowery’s art is also influenced by his personal struggles with ADHD and how many museums and art spaces exclude those who they deem “unfit.” 

“My exhibitions are a place where people who have ADHD, like me, can come when other art spaces consider them too raucous, or treat them like they don’t fit in. I want them to feel like they can choose how to engage my art,” he said. 

With the firm belief that many galleries and art exhibits shouldn’t be seen as “elite,” Lowery suggests more art spaces should be treated like libraries to further promote self-expression. 

“I’m 42 now, but when I was younger, the library was a strictly quiet space, but now it feels like the library, well the library is chaos. Most have separate quiet areas now,” Lowery said. “I want museums to be more like that.”  

With his time at KU, Lowery worked alongside many student artists, who helped build and test the many exhibits and moving pieces of “Control.” 

When asked for any advice he may have to those students in the arts, or students in general, he said, “If you’ve ever noticed you have to use the bathroom while you’re doing something, and you’re thinking ‘I just want to finish this one last thing, I gotta finish this last thing,’ that’s how you know you genuinely love something, like you have found something that has hit your core that you are truly interested in. It’s silly and gross I know, but I’m 100% serious. I think the fact it’s so ridiculous is what makes it so relatable and applicable.” 

As for what’s next for Lowery, he plans on going back home and spending time with his partner Chrissy. Meanwhile, he also wants to spend more time devoting himself to their joint project Trace/Play. 

The “Control” exhibit will remain open until Dec. 1.