| |
Kristin
Lucas
|
Included
Artists:
ALEX BAG, MIKE BALLOU, MICHELLE BECK & JORGE
CALVO, GUY BEN-NER, JANET BIGGS, ROBERT BLANCHON, ROBERT BOYD, MIGUEL
CALDERON, JULIA CASTAGNA. TONY COKES, PAULA DELGADO, ETEAM, OMER FAST,
RICO GATSON, LISELOT VAN DER HEIJDEN, MICHELLE HINES, YASU ICHIGE, CLAUDIA
JOSKOWICZ, CYNTHIA LOVETT, KRISTIN LUCAS, MARY MAGSAMEN, BJORN MELHUS,
NICOLAS MOULIN, LAUREL NAKADATE, CHRISTIAN NGUYEN, JACKIE SALLOUM, MARTIN
SASTRE, WILLIAM SCARBROUGH, HEIDI SCHLATTER, GUY RICHARDS SMIT, MICHAEL
SMITH, DEBORAH STRATMAN, SARA CHING-YU SUN, MOMOYO TORIMITSU, DANIEL UMPIERREZ,
MIGUEL VENTURA, AND OTHERS.
|
|
|
Momenta Art is pleased to announce a retrospective exhibition covering
the past ten years of video shown with the gallery. Video X provides an
opportunity to catch up with and reflect on an exciting era in the history
of video, during which time Momenta has introduced and promoted some of
the most vital new talent in the field. Over these ten years, the nature
of video art changed: affordable camcorders and digital editing technology
made video ubiquitous among emerging artists. This period also saw video
cease to be perceived as an alternative medium, which in itself encouraged
new experimentation – and raised the bar for video artists. The artists
in this show represent some of the most vital new talent of the decade.
This show
strives to be as comprehensive as possible, inviting all of the video
artists that Momenta has shown over the period to update our holdings.
Taking a cue from video rental stores, Momenta is displaying informative
VHS and DVD boxes – so that viewers may browse and choose from our
collection. This viewing library contains both old and new work by video
artists shown by Momenta Art in our Brooklyn space and elsewhere since
1993.
In
an effort to specifically engage with the problem of representing video,
Video X will present the work of several artists who produced work derived
from their videos. Laurel Nakadate’s Oops video documented
part of a project in which the artist befriended unattached, middle-aged
men and then innocently entertained them in their homes. Video X presents
her video stills from that project because individual images do seem to
convey its spirit – though the tenor of the video’s irony, present
the pop soundtracks, is changed. Claudia Joskowicz’s Jenny
and David film strips attempt to address the issue of her video’s
missing soundtrack by providing printed dialogue. And the multiple panels
seek to convey the effect of a five channel installation. The production
stills of Robert Boyd’s parody of a gap TV commercial convey
a cool advertising-aesthetic. But when combined with samples of product
in his mini-installation, The Virgin Collection, the images re-present
an experience as full as his video. Mike Ballou’s blue-print
translates his Multi-Plex video sculpture into a drawing. The piece
served as a venue for twelve Momenta alumni during an exchange show in
Paris. A chart on the drawing explains the program, and video stills are
used to further illustrate the experience. The blue-print and the stills
create an object-like quality that is as satisfying as his sculpture was
– though wholly transformed. A final piece, taken from William
Scarbrough’s The Trials of Dr. Kawalski, provides straightforward
video documentation with voiceover. The original work, an interactive
video, is as equally altered though becoming linear as the other works
are through the elimination of video.
To round
out the experience, Video X will also offer a program of screenings with
new work by two different Momenta alumni featured each week of the show.
These pairings are intended to play off of each other, altering meaning
and providing new contexts, functioning as counterpoint to the viewing
library.
week one:
Kristin Lucas: C4BR: Science and Nature. Science and
Nature is part of a larger project that the artist undertook for the
city of Liverpool, UK, entitled Celebrations for Breaking Routine. In
this segment, sci-fi majorettes march to a pop song reconfigured for brass
band.
Martin Sastre: Videoart: The Iberoamerican Legend. In this
high-art history lesson, Sastre blames the death of video art on Matthew
Barney – and claims a profitable afterlife for himself.
week two:
Liselot van der Heijden: Fears. This video uses as its starting
point responses recorded by the artist to the question, "What are
your fears?"
Deborah Stratman: Energy Country. The frenzied detritus
of trading floors, smart weaponry and the religious right are woven through
the petrochemical landscapes of Southeast Texas.
week three:
Rico Gatson: Jungle, Jungle. Jungle, Jungle, a kaleidoscopic
montage of the ceremonial dance in King Kong, references the cultural
implications of the fear of being taken against one’s will.
Momoyo Torimitsu: Office Trip. A hypnotic tour of the land
of corporate cubicles that seems to ask us to relax and enjoy an endless
architectural trap.
week four:
Tony Cokes: Black September.02/03 (the return of evil –
study.02/03). This piece combines a re-mix of images from Antonioni’s
anti-imperialist film Zabriskie Point with text taken from the website
"terrorism.com."
Miguel Ventura: Becoming C.B. In this piece, the main character,
played by the artist, becomes the 13 year old suicide pilot, Charles Bishop,
who crashed his little plane into the Bank of America in Tampa, Florida
in January 2002.
week five:
Janet Biggs: Apraxia. A senior synchronized swimming pair,
isolated by their aquatic environment, perform an other-worldly dance
through alternative methods of communication. The soundtrack includes
found sounds such as the standard hearing test.
Nicolas Moulin: Nun. Nun contraposes a scientific prediction
of the Earth’s future death with a topographical map of the continents
of today – showing our world as a dried out
wasteland, with oceans and life disappeared.
|
|
Christian
Nguyen