Hunter Museum of American Art

Chattanooga social media fans gather to discuss and create art inspired by language and technology

ChattUp, a meetup for Chattanooga's social media fans, will be held this Thursday night at the Hunter Museum of American Art. Loosely inspired by Lesley Dill's "I Heard a Voice" exhibition and microblogging service Twitter, this will be the biggest ChattUp yet, with over 150 people expected. In addition to meeting new friends, attendees will enjoy everything from collaborative art to an opera film showing.

What: I Heard a Tweet: a ChattUp at the Hunter
Where: The Hunter Museum of American Art
Date: Thursday, February 19
Time: 7:00-10:00pm 
Admission: Free (Light hors d'oeuvres included; Cash bar)

ChattUp 3.0, with a View
ChattUp began in August as a tweetup, or Twitter meetup, to allow online friends to put faces with screen names. The events have grown rapidly along with the social media crowd in Chattanooga. Following the successful ChattUp election night party at Coptix, the Hunter Museum was excited to host the next event. "I Heard a Tweet," the third ChattUp event, is presented by Juncture, the Hunter and Chattarati. The Chattanooga Technology Council and Juncture are sponsoring the event.

"The Hunter staff is always looking for ways to engage new audiences," said Katrina Craven, public relations and marketing director for the Hunter Museum. "Combining art and technology while encouraging guests to participate in the creation of a collaborative work of art is very exciting. It also fulfills the Museum's mission to put visitors at the center of everything we do."

Opera and Collaborative Art
To help encourage conversations about language, communication and fine art, the Hunter will not only open the Lesley Dill exhibition for viewing, but will also show her opera in the museum's auditorium. In a unique twist, ChattUp attendees will create a lasting artifact through a collaborative art piece. The theme of the piece is simple -language and technology- but how it takes shape is up to the participants. The art project will then be loaned out to Chattanooga's magnet schools to continue the conversation with area students.

"I Heard a Tweet: a ChattUp at the Hunter" is open to the public, and all are invited to attend. For more information, visit www.chattmeetup.com.