The Kiss

Katy Dove graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, UK in 1999. Over the past 10 years she has worked across many areas including animation, film, sound, music, drawing, painting, photography and printmaking. Recent projects include a residency and solo exhibition at La Criee, Rennes, France, a commissioned temporary animation installation at BBC Scotland, Pacific Quay (2009) and Now is the Time a collaborative exhibition with Simon Yuill at The Changing Room Gallery, Stirling (2009).

Solo exhibitions include Artis, Den Bosch, Netherlands (2008), Hales Gallery, London (2006), Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh (2006) and Sies and Hoeke Gallerie, Dusseldorf (2005). Other projects include Sun by Ear, an exhibition with Victoria Morton at Tramway, Glasgow (2007) and solo presentations at Art Statements, Basel (2005) and Art Now, Lightbox, Tate Britain (2003).

She is a member of the band Muscles of Joy.

She currently lives and works in Glasgow.

Katy Dove is represented by Hales Gallery, London. www.halesgallery.com

Katy Dove’s residency is sponsored by Creative Scotland.

Performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson with Jovana Stokic
Wednesday, February 24, 2010, 7 pm

Curator of Location One’s Abramović Studio, Jovana Stokić will speak with artist Ragnar Kjartansson about his current and past work, focusing on his performative works. The artist grew up to become, among other things, a pop star in his native Iceland, with his band Trabant. He is also recognized as an artist from performances such as The Opera (his 2001 graduation piece from the Academy of Arts in Reykjavík, in which he created a Rococo theatre in a small room and performed for ten days straight), Death and the Children (2002) or The Great Unrest (2005), in which he dressed as a Viking and sang the blues for an entire week in an abandoned theatre in the countryside. Artist will talk about his experience of his   six-month long performance at the Pavilion of Iceland at 53rd  Venice Biennale, 2009.

The evening is a part of activities of Abramović Studio at LOCATION ONE. Beginning October 2009 the studio, curated by Jovana Stokić, involves artists from Location One residency program in engaging with performance art. The ABRAMOVIĆ STUDIO within Location One is dedicated to exploring long-durational performance works through open-ended forms of workshops, panels and discussions. Marina Abramović is the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at MoMA in March 2010 titled “Artist is Present” in which she will be performing continuously throughout the whole duration of the exhibition.
The talk is free and open to the public.

Ragnar Kjartansson (b. 1976, Reykjavík, Iceland) conjures up emotions in his work that he can pass on to his viewers, with a keen eye for the tragicomic spectacle of human experience where sorrow collides with happiness, horror with beauty, and drama with humor. In his versatile artistic career, he has focused on video, painting, and drawing, with performance at the heart of his practice. Both of Kjartansson’s parents are actors, and acting, repetition, and identity are ever-recurring themes in his work. He has taken on countless roles in his performances, combining his own personality with personas from cultural history. His work incorporates a mélange of show business icons and nostalgic imagery from bygone eras of theater, television, music, and art, allowing him to blur the border between life and art, reality and fiction, and to create bold statements that strike chords with his audiences. Kjartansson graduated from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2001, and is the youngest artist ever to represent Iceland at the International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2009. He has built an impressive roster of international exhibitions, including several major solo shows in museums, galleries, and art festivals in the last few years. He is representative of the vibrant young art scene in Iceland and has formed an engaging individual style that has
drawn the attention of the international art world. Kjartansson is represented by i8 Gallery in Iceland and Luhring Augustine in the United States.

Belgrade-born, New York-based art historian and critic Jovana Stokić holds a Ph.D from the Institute of Fine Arts at the New York University. Her dissertation, titled “The Body Beautiful: Feminine Self-Representations 1970 – 2007,” analyzes works of several women artists — Marina Abramovic, Martha Rosler, Joan Jonas — since the 1970s, particularly focusing on the notions of self-representation and beauty. Jovana has been writing art criticism for several years, and has curated several thematic exhibitions and performance events in the US, Italy, Spain and Serbia. Jovana was a fellow at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, a researcher at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the curator of the Kimmel Center Galleries, New York University. She has most recently written an essay for Marina Abramović’s MoMA exhibition catalogue.

Here is the video of this artist talk:

Curator of Location One’s Abramović Studio, Jovana Stokić will speak with artist Lucy Skaer about her current and past work, focusing on the collaborative artist group Henry VIII’s Wives, who have been working together since 1998, mainly in film and video. The talk is free and open to the public. Skaer was recently shortlisted for the prestigious Turner Prize and is currently an International Fellow in Location One’s Residency Program.

A collective was formed in 1997 in Glasgow with the intention of experimenting around collaborative art projects. Its first exhibition was named “Henry VIII’s Wives” and its very title implied their ideology signifying, according to them “a surviving curiosity, a physical impossibility, or just a collection of people who should have known better.” Henry VIII’s Wives’ practice points to the obsolescence of traditionally interpreted ideologies by gently mocking collective spirit: their initial motto was: “We March Under the Banner of Visual Art.” They developed performative projects in which they involved local communities not limited to ordinary gallery-going audience. Tonight’s discussion will focus on issues of non-hierarchical collaboration, dissemination of artworks both within and outside of gallery system and age-old question regarding utopian aspect of art practice. For the first time in New York, several of Henry VIII or I’s Wives’ films will be shown.
for more info >> www.h8w.net and www.tatlinstowerandtheworld.net

Lucy Skaer was born in Cambridge and studied at the Glasgow School of Art. Much of her work consists of her interacting with, and changing, public spaces. In one piece, she took up a paving stone on Glasgow’s Buchanan Street and then had the Earl of Glasgow ceremoniously lay down a replacement, while in an Amsterdam-based piece, she left a diamond and a scorpion side-by-side on a pavement. She has also secretly hidden moth and butterfly pupae in criminal courts in the hope that they will hatch in mid-trial. Skaer has also exhibited drawings and is a member of the Henry VIII’s Wives collective of artists. In 2003, Skaer was shortlisted for the Beck’s Futures prize. She currently lives and works in Glasgow.

In 2008 Skaer was the subject of a mid-career retrospective at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland which included newly commissioned work. There was a comprehensive monograph published to accompany the show. Her most recent major solo exhibition is ‘A Boat Used As A Vessel’, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland (April 2009 – June 2009).

Lucy Skaer is represented by doggerfisher, Edinburgh (www.doggerfisher.com). In April 2009, she was shortlisted for the Turner Prize.

Belgrade-born, New York-based art historian and critic Jovana Stokić holds a Ph.D from the Institute of Fine Arts at the New York
University. Her dissertation, titled “The Body Beautiful: Feminine Self-Representations 1970 – 2007,” analyzes works of several women artists – Marina Abramovic, Martha Rosler, Joan Jonas — since the 1970s, particularly focusing on the notions of
self-representation and beauty. Jovana has been writing art criticism for several years, and has curated several thematic exhibitions and performance events in the US, Italy, Spain and Serbia. Jovana was a fellow at the New Museum of Contemporary
Art, New York, a researcher at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the curator of the Kimmel Center Galleries, New York University. She has most recently written an essay for Marina Abramović’s MoMA exhibition catalogue.

Marina Abramović:
Performing the Gallery/Performing the Museum

Tuesday, October 27, 2009,
doors at 6pm, talk begins promptly at 7pm
Public Discussion with MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ
Inauguration of ABRAMOVIC STUDIO AT LOCATION ONE
presented by Jovana Stokić

The discussion will focus on Abramović’s investigations of transformative quality of time in context of a gallery exhibition. The exclusive video material from Abramovic’s innovative group exhibition in Manchester Whitworth Art Gallery, held July 3 – 19 2009, will be shown. For this groundbreaking event, the Whitworth emptied every gallery space in order to create room for this unique work to develop and breathe. The show began with an hour-long performance initiation with Marina Abramović, leading up to a series of extraordinary encounters between artists and audience. Quite unlike anything staged before in a museum or a gallery, it provided a transformative gallery-going experience.

The evening inaugurates Abramović Studio at LOCATION ONE. Beginning October 2009 the studio, curated by Jovana Stokić, involves artists from Location One residency program in engaging with performance art. The ABRAMOVIĆ STUDIO within Location One is dedicated to exploring long-durational performance works through open-ended forms of workshops, panels and discussions. Marina Abramović, will be the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at MoMA in the spring of 2010 titled “Artist is Present” in which she will be performing continuously throughout the whole duration of the exhibition.

Marina Abramović
Since the beginning of Marina Abramovic’s career, during the early 1970s, where she attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade, Abramović has pioneered the use of performance as a visual art form. The body has been both her subject and medium. Exploring the physical and mental limits of her being, she has withstood pain, exhaustion and danger in the quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. As a vital member of the generation of pioneering performance artists that includes Bruce Nauman, Vito Acconci and Chris Burden, Abramović created some of the most historic early performance pieces and continues to make important durational works. In 2005, she held a series of performances called Seven Easy Pieces at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. She was honored for Seven Easy Pieces by the Guggenheim at their International Gala in 2006 and by the AICA USA with the “Best Exhibition of Time Based Art” award in 2007. Marina Abramović is represented by Sean Kelly Gallery.

Jovana Stokić
Belgrade-born, New York-based art historian and critic Jovana Stokić holds a Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts at the New York University. Her dissertation, titled “The Body Beautiful: Feminine Self-Representations 1970 – 2007,” analyzes works of several women artists – Marina Abramovic, Martha Rosler, Joan Jonas — since the 1970s, particularly focusing on the notions of self-representation and beauty. Jovana has curated several thematic exhibitions and performance events in the US, Italy, Spain and Serbia. Her recent exhibition “Best Regards form the Blind Spot,” focused on videos by Marina Abramovic, and younger women artists from the region of Serbia and Montenegro. Jovana was a fellow at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, a researcher at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the curator of the Kimmel Center Galleries, New York University. She has most recently written an essay for Marina Abramović’s MoMA exhibition catalogue.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Belgrade-born, New York-based art historian and critic Jovana Stokic holds a Ph.D from the Institute of Fine Arts at the New York University. Her dissertation, titled “The Body Beautiful: Feminine Self-Representations 1970 – 2007,” analyzes  works of several women artists – Marina Abramovic, Martha Rosler, Joan Jonas — since the 1970s, particularly focusing on the notions of self-representation and beauty.  Jovana has been writing art criticism for several years, and has curated several thematic exhibitions and performance events in the US, Italy, Spain and Serbia. . Jovana was a fellow at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, a researcher at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the curator of the Kimmel Center Galleries, New York University.  She has most recently written an essay for Marina Abramovic’s MoMA exhibition catalogue.

Location One 10th Anniversary Exhibition
Laurie Anderson
From the Air: Two Installations

March 10 – May 2, 2009
Opening Reception, Tuesday, March 10, 6-8pm

Location One is pleased to announce the exhibition From the Air: Two Installations, by Laurie Anderson which will be presented in celebration of its 10th Anniversary. Anderson, who was invited to be Location One’s Senior Artist-in-Residence in 2008, will present a new piece and the revival of an older work, both addressing the concept of disembodiment, which has been a common thread throughout her oeuvre. The exhibition will be on view from March 10 through May 2, 2009, with an opening reception on Tuesday, March 10 from 6 to 8 pm.

The title piece, From the Air, uses a series of 3D projections, a technique Anderson has employed since the 1970s, to create a story about the artist and her dog. The second installation, Aleph, projects sound electronically into the gallery space, focusing the sound to make it seemingly emanate from midair. Originally commissioned for the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, the text for Aleph is inspired by the unspeakable nature of this Hebrew letter, and the installation examines the unconscious process of putting ideas into words.

Fostered by the experimental art scene of downtown New York in the early 1970s, Laurie Anderson created her earliest performances in Soho, where Location One is based. In addition to continuing her acclaimed performance work, she has gone on to broaden her artistic practice to include music, video, digital art, and sculpture.

Location One will organize its inaugural Benefit Gala in celebration of its 10th Anniversary on Thursday, March 5, 2009. Honoring Laurie Anderson and her contributions to the downtown New York art world and beyond, the gala will feature a preview of the exhibition and a special performance that the artist will reveal.

About Laurie Anderson:
Laurie Anderson is one of America’s most renowned—and daring—creative pioneers. She is best known for her multimedia presentations and innovative use of technology. As writer, director, visual artist and vocalist she has created groundbreaking works that span the worlds of art, theater, and experimental music.

Her recording career, launched by “O Superman” in 1981, includes the soundtrack to her feature film “Home of the Brave” and “Life on a String” (2001). Anderson’s live shows range from simple spoken word to elaborate multi-media stage performances such as “Songs and Stories for Moby Dick” (1999). Anderson has published seven books and her visual work has been presented in major museums around the world.

In 2002, Anderson was appointed the first artist-in-residence of NASA which culminated in her touring solo performance “The End of the Moon”. Recent projects include a series of audio-visual installations and a high definition film, Hidden Inside Mountains, created for World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan. In 2007 she received the prestigious Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for her outstanding contribution to the arts. She recently completed a two-year worldwide tour of her latest performance piece, “Homeland”, which will be released on Nonesuch Records this year.

Location One exhibition related press:

NY Times[link] – PDF
Artcat[link] – PDF
ArtForum[link] – PDF
Artico[link] – PDF
Artlog
New York Observer[link] – PDF
Performa[link] – PDF
Theater Mania[link] – PDF

We are pleased to present new work by Daniel Andersson (Finland) and by Tseng Yu-chin (Taiwan), participants of the International Residency Program this year.

What is Location One?

Art. Music, Performance. Talk. Technology.
We are a not-for-profit art center devoted to convergence between visual, performing and digital arts in a time of rapidly changing technology. We serve as a catalyst. Our goals are new ideas, new work, new forms of expression, new capabilities in our artists and new awareness in all those we reach.

How much does it cost?


 Most of our events are FREE.

What are your programs?

Exhibition, Music, Performance, Discussion – all generated by a 3-tier international residency program composed each year of a Senior Artist, International Fellows and an emerging artist program.

Who qualifies as a “Senior Artist”?

An artist at the top of his or her game who is greatly admired. This position is an honor for Location One and it’s community and our staff works with our senior artist to help create some new work that they might not have created in the normal course of their busy careers. In 2006 – 2007 we had the honor of having Martha Rosler; in 2007 – 2008 we have been working with Laurie Anderson; in 2008 -2009 we will welcome Joan Jonas.

Who are the International Fellows?

This program is by-invitation only. Established artists are selected and sponsored by our International Committee. They are offered fellowships of up to 10 months and encouraged to create new work that they might not otherwise have undertaken without the assistance of our gifted staff. Most of our major exhibitions will be created by these artists.

What is the emerging artists’ Residency Program?

Ten to twenty artists per year from around the world come to spend five or ten months in our studios, experimenting and creating new work. more info >>

How do I apply to the International Residency Program?

There is no application because artists are proposed by curators, critics and our own staff. We do this because we do not have enough staff to review all of the artists’ portfolios we would receive if we had an open call.

Who qualifies for the emerging artists’ program and how are they chosen?

Candidates must be working artists with at least three years of practice and some exhibition history. Students are not eligible. Artists from abroad are selected through a double panel review process: A home-country sponsoring institution proposes a short list of candidates, from which Location One chooses one artist-in-residence. American artists are proposed by curators, critics, and by our own staff.

What is the Exhibition Program?


Our central contribution to the artistic community and the public-at-large. All work shown in our exhibitions will be created at Location One or in collaboration with our curators. Each season, we have five exhibitions, usually drawn from our group of International Fellows – often including work one by our senior artist-in-residence. Throughout the year work by emerging artists is presented in the Project Room or Performance Space. more info >>

How do I propose an exhibition?


All work in our exhibitions has been created at Location One, by our residents, or in conjunction with our curators. Unsolicited proposals are not accepted.

What is the Music/Performance program?


We believe in interdisciplinary work. At Location One, you will find the collaboration of musicians, visual artists and technologists. We call this convergence and often host innovative new performances. We also host Roulette in our performance space, so almost any night of the week, some of the most innovative musicians will be playing at 20 Greene.

What is the Discussion Series?

Symposia, panels, lectures or workshops by artists, performers, critics, technology experts and thinkers from different fields that explore questions of central importance to contemporary society and art, including politics, religion, ethics, the environment and the role and interaction of information and technology. more info >>

How can I help support Location One?

Become a member, donate through Paypal, or volunteer your time as an intern.

What benefits are there to being a member?

Invitations to members-only artists’ presentations; discounts and reserved seating to all performances and events (e.g. Roulette concerts); a subscription to our calendar of programs, exhibitions and events; and a listing on our website. At higher levels, membership includes special gifts, catalogs, DVDs, invitations to private receptions, dinners and events, and the opportunity to hold a private event in our gallery.

How can I become a member?

Go to our membership page or come to one of our events and sign up.

Can I rent the space for my party/event?


The space at 20 Greene is sometimes available for rental. Please e-mail info@20greene.com.

How is Location One funded?


Location One is funded by grants from the government and foundations, and donations from our Board of Trustees and individuals like you. List of our supporters >>

What is the history of Location One?

We were founded in 1997 by Claire Montgomery. In 2000, we moved into our permanent location at 26 Greene St, and launched our visual arts, music and dance programs the next year. In 2001, our International Residency Program followed and in 2002-03, we initiated our discussion and workshop program. Since then we have been growing all of our programs and upgrading our space to allow us to present the most current technologies.

Where are you located?


26 Greene Street, between Grand and Canal Streets, in Soho, New York City, The Big Apple, Gotham, the City that Never Sleeps, Baghdad on the Hudson, here’s a map >>

Born in Japan and based in the Netherlands since 1994, Mayumi graduated from the Gerriet Rietveld Academy and the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam. Recent exhibitions/presentations include: Barcelona Asian Film Festival (BAFF), Spain; Stedelijk Modern Art Museum, Amsterdam; Viper International Film Video and New Media Festival, Basel; Japan Foundation, New Delhi, India. In 1999, she was awarded the Rene Coelho prize by the Netherlands Media Art Institute Montevideo. Mayumi has also directed and written scripts for Avro Broadcasting, Netherlands.

Projects and Exhibitions at Location One:
Shifting Script interactive installation :: Residents’ Exhibition June 2006

Online:
Interview with Louky Keijsers, Independent Curator & Director of LMAK Projects

Mayumi’s residency at Location One is supported by the Fonds voor beeldende kunsten, vormgeving en bouwkunst (BKVB).

Born in Cork and raised in Dublin, Andrew lives and works in Dingle (west coast of Ireland). Exhibitions include : Roscommon Arts Centre (2005); Kerry Film Festival (2004). He studied at the Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork, The National College of Art and Design, Dublin, and University of Ulster, Belfast.

Projects and Exhibitions at Location One:
ECHO video event, May 2006
Act video :: Residents’ Exhibition June 2006

Online:
Interview Project

Andrew’s residency at Location One is supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon (Ireland)

Thursday, May 18, 2006 – 6:30-8:30pm – FREE

Location One presents ECHO, a collaborative project created by visual/media artist Andrew Duggan and dancers Jonathan Kelliher and Joanne Barry of Siamsa Tíre, the National Folk Theatre of Ireland. For one-night only traditional Irish dance will be transported from the South West coast of Ireland to Location One’s Gallery space in New York City. Impromptu street performances and filming will take place in NYC at undisclosed locations leading up to the event. The resulting project will be presented at Location One.The event will take place on Thursday, May 18, 2006 (6:30-8:30pm). The video installation will be continuous throughout the presentation, with dance performances at 7pm and 8pm (approximately 10 minutes in length). The event is free and open to the public.ECHO is a multidisciplinary project that examines the creative dialogue between dance and video. The work explores folk movement vocabulary in an urban context. With a focus on the complex nature of ‘looking’, it breaks down some of the perceived barriers between art forms. In keeping with folk tradition, a crossroads becomes a symbolic space through which the dancers have a physical dialogue, questioning the origin of the echo. At its core, ECHO creates crossroads between traditional and contemporary forms, rhythmic structures, the physical dance space, and cultures.Andrew Duggan’s media and installation work investigates the space between tradition (fact/folk/lore, etc..) and contemporary space and time. He plays with cultural representations and perceptions and has presented many projects in the public domain. In Kerry, the Bán/Blane series (2004) were projected on to a building reputed to have been prepared for the escape and arrival of Marie Antoinette. He frequently collaborates with dancers, musicians and cultural institutions. In CentreStage, he worked with the National Folk Theatre of Ireland to create an installation on the traditional (Irish) crossroads and the nature of looking. Born in Cork and raised in Dublin, Duggan lives and works in Dingle (West Coast of Ireland). He studied at the Crawford College of Art and design, Cork; the National College of Arts and Design, Dublin; and the University of Ulster, Belfast.Siamsa Tíre (pronounced shee-am-sah tir-a: enjoyment of the ground), the National Folk Theatre of Ireland was founded in 1974. Its mission is to reflect Ireland’s great wealth of music, dance and folk tradition for the stage, through vibrant, colorful theatricality and to continue to create new folk theatre presentations, drawing on their traditions and rich cultural reservoir. The company has performed their unique brand of folk theater at venues all over Ireland, and in the US, Canada, Brittan, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain, South America, and Australia.Andrew Duggan has been an artist-in-residence at Location One since September 2005. His residency is supported, in part, by The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon (Ireland).video documentation:[display_podcast]

Click here to view the embedded video.

“There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part, you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your hands on the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to rearrange them all! And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be remade to ensure your freedom!”

Chris Csikszentmihalyi is the Fukutake Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and directs the Computing Culture Group at the MIT Media Lab, a group that creates uniq ue media technologies for cultural applications. For the past 12 years, he has lectured and shown new media work in both Europe and North America. Interested in cultural narratives, Csikszentmihalyi’s work typically creates a new technology to embody a particular social agenda. For instance the “Afghan Explorer,” a tele-operated robot reporter, the “Natural Language Processor” that commissioned by the KIASMA Museum in Helsinki, Finland and “DJ I, Robot.” His website is http://web.media.mit.edu/~csik/

Click here to view the embedded video.

presentations by Artists-in-Residence in conjunction with the exhibit that runs from March 18 through April 23.5/20050323-naydasanteri.mov

Click here to view the embedded video.

IMHO :: In My Humble Opinion
part of Location One’s Open House Wednesday series of talks and panels

A monthly personal bookmark bar of recent or not-so-recent art works that use the internet as canvas, conduit, muse, or soapbox in compelling, humorous or poetic ways. Presented by Heather Wagner, Location One’s director of online exhibitions.

Luke Murphy
Node thinking, pornopainter animations and manic Power Point presentations http://www.lukelab.com

+
Ursula Endlicher
Famous For One Spam, wigweb portraits, singing with household appliances

http://ursenal.net

+
Antoinette Lafarge & the Plaintext Players
Remotely extemporized text scripts performed by live actors, MOO theatre.
http://yin.arts.uci.edu/~players/

Click here to view the embedded video.

This provocative and multi-talented artist, who will open the 2004-2005 season at Location One in September with an exhibition entitled Skin and Control, will give a talk on Wednesday, April 21st as part of our new Open House series of lectures/presentations by artists and curators.

Chris Csikszentmihalyi is the Fukutake Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and directs the Computing Culture Group at the MIT Media Lab, a group that creates unique media technologies for cultural applications. For the past 10 years, he has lectured and shown new media work in both Europe and North America. Interested in cultural narratives, Csikszentmihalyi’s work typically creates a new technology to embody a particular social agenda. For instance, his most recent piece, “Afghan Explorer,” is a tele-operated robot reporter. His “Natural Language Processor” was commissioned by the KIASMA Museum in Helsinki, Finland. He is also one of the creators of DJ I, Robot.

His website is http://web.media.mit.edu/~csik/

This provocative and multi-talented artist, who will open the 2004-2005 season at Location One in September with an exhibition entitled Skin and Control, will give a talk on Wednesday, April 21st as part of our new Open House series of lectures/presentations by artists and curators.

Chris Csikszentmihalyi is the Fukutake Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and directs the Computing Culture Group at the MIT Media Lab, a group that creates unique media technologies for cultural applications. For the past 10 years, he has lectured and shown new media work in both Europe and North America. Interested in cultural narratives, Csikszentmihalyi’s work typically creates a new technology to embody a particular social agenda. For instance, his most recent piece, “Afghan Explorer,” is a tele-operated robot reporter. His “Natural Language Processor” was commissioned by the KIASMA Museum in Helsinki, Finland. He is also one of the creators of DJ I, Robot.

His website is http://web.media.mit.edu/~csik/

Kurt Ralske
Work in ProgressJanuary-February, 2004

____Video as a tool for re-mapping 4 dimensional space

“These possibilities are very exciting to me, and my hope is that work that reveals time by transforming it causes the viewer to experience a different, expanded sense of time, and thus a different, expanded sense of their own life passing through time.”

These three works explore time, and our perception of time. For me, one of the most interesting qualities of video is that it is in reality only a collection of still images. At 30 video frames per second, any 10 seconds of fluid movement can alternately be considered as a static collection of 300 related still images. Working in the digital realm in a real-time manner, there are endless possibilies for instantly treating a new video recording as a library of stills, then deriving new material by analyzing or modifying this library: reordering entries, comparing similarity or difference between entries, deriving a single image from multiple entries, etc.

In painting and drawing, the artist makes decisions on what rules to follow to project the 3 dimensions of physical space onto the 2 dimensions of the canvas. Classical vanishing-point perspective, Byzantine reversed perspective, and Cubism are some familiar examples of various methods for collapsing 3 dimensions onto a 2 dimensional image. Every artist’s personal style of 3d-to-2d mapping become an identifiable element of his/her “hand”.

Similarly, the video or film artist makes decisions on how to work with events that occur in time (the 4th dimension) to re-map 4 dimensions onto alternate, transformed 2, 3, or 4 dimensional spaces. There are endless possibilities for converting time-based events into modified, transformed or collapsed representations.

We have learned techniques for “reading” transformed representations and unconsciously use them all the time. We know the map is smaller than the territory it represents; we know the Mona Lisa is “closer” to us than the horizon; we know that the 1 hour 40 minutes of a Hollywood film do not represent a slice of real-time (as we experience it), but instead, events that occurred at various times.

Digital video (especially when combined with custom software processing) offers new possibilities for re-mapping 4 dimensions that extend far beyond the familiar techniques of film and analog video, which we can already “read” without conscious effort. These possibilities are very exciting to me, and my hope is that work that reveals time by transforming it causes the viewer to experience a different, expanded sense of time, and thus a different, expanded sense of their own life passing through time.

____”Zebra Time” (aquarium, fish, video camera, custom software, computer, projector):

A small school of fish (Brachydanio rerio, commonly known as Zebras) swim in an aquarium. A video camera is pointed at the aquarium, and images of the fish are captured into the computer. The artist’s custom software processes the images, which are projected behind the aquarium. The processing of the images destroys their temporal integrity, that is, events that occur at different times are represented simultaneously. At times, the frame fills with the residue of previous actions; in this way, the fish, by their actions, are the creators of a “painting”.____”Cold Time / 3rd Time” (DVD) :

Two audio-visual pieces are played consecutively. In “Cold Time” (4 min), a small number of abstract b+w still images are animated in subtle, painterly ways. The images drift, melt, and move erratically. The soundtrack is a recording of shortwave radio noises from the 1950s, which are allegedly transmissions of encrypted information by cold-war-era spies. The mood is dark and foreboding. In “3rd Time” (15:30 min), one minute of 1950s footage of the NYC elevated subway line is drastically extended by a cyclic, iterative looping algorithm. A soundtrack created by the artist to match the one-minute version is similarly processed to be tightly synchronized with the looping of the image. “3rd Time” is a record of a real-time performance (that is, its 15:30 minute duration required exactly 15:30 minutes to create), and is presented unedited, as a document of the work process. The temporal integrity of each frame is fractured, that is, parts of each frame are actually a record of previous events. As a result, objects themselves become fractured and lose their distinct location in space and time. The incessant repetitive cycling of the images risks an overdetermined single-mindedness, but instead approaches a hypnotic and visceral thrill.

____”Mer Time” (DVD, 3 monitors, ink-jet print 150x50cm) :

A still image is created through the residue of a video performance. The still image is then re-converted back into video via a long, slow close-up pan across its surface. Thus a time-based process (the unseen video performance) is transformed into an inanimate object (still image), and the inanimate object is transformed back into a new time-based process (video on monitors). This sequence of mappings is 4d to 2d to 4d.

Location One announces the last performance of its Spring Music Series, which will be an evening with Zeena Parkins and Janene Higgins, presenting their latest works, Arch and How I See the World, #1. With electric harp, processors, multiple projections, and cameras, they perform a live music/live video duet. Parkins continues her sonic research on her self-invented electric harp, a hybrid of an acoustic harp and an electric guitar. Higgins utilizes video mixers and cameras in a live performance setting, enabling her to “play” the video as a musician would play an instrument. The performance will be presented in the gallery and be streamed live at www.location1.org.

Arch considers the human body and its penetration into architecture and the urban landscape. The piece premiered at Roulette, New York City, in May 2000 as part of their Festival of Mixology. It since has been taped for Roulette TV, airing in early 2001, and was part of the December music series at Phill Niblock’s Experimental Intermedia. How I See the World is the first of a series of more purely improvisational works.

The duo have been collaborating for five years. Their last full-length piece, Artificial Eye, premiered in Kassel, Germany, for Documenta X. Other presentations include Music Unlimited festival in Wels, Austria and at the City of Women festival in Slovenia.

The development of Arch was partially funded by a grant from The Experimental Television Center, which is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts.

Zeena Parkins
multi-instrumentalist, improviser, composer, is a leading light in European and North American ‘Other Music’ circles. A frequent guest of festivals covering the broadest spectrum of musical activity, she is not only one of the pioneers of the electric harp, and extended techniques and digital processing on the acoustic and electric harps, but a composer with a unique vision of how to meld acoustic and electronic processes, in pieces such as Isabelle, Mouth=Maul=Betrayer, Pan-Acousticon and VOU-Valley of Unrest. Zeena has performed and/or recorded with (among others): John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Fred Frith, Elliott Sharp, Jim O’Rourke, Thurston Moore, Lee Renaldo, David Shea and Pauline Oliveros and has toured throughout Europe, Japan in Russia and in the States. Recent collaborations include scores for choreographers Neil Greenberg, Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh, Jennifer Lacey and video artist Janene Higgins. Zeena is a recipient of the prestigious grant for Contemporary Performance Arts, numerous commissioning funds from Mary Flagler Cary Trust, the Jerome Foundation, a Rockefeller Foundation grant, and Nysca Composer Commission. Most recently Zeena performed with Yoko Ono at the Japan Society and has also been working with Bjšrk on her newest record.

Janene Higgins
is a graphic designer and video artist living in New York City. Since 1996, her videos and digital media have been presented in numerous festivals throughout the world, including New York and Chicago’s Underground Film Festivals, The Barcelona Festival of Independent Video, Art Institute of Chicago, The Impakt Festival in Holland, New York Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Experimenta Festival in Buenos Aires, The Hamburg Short Film Festival, and at New York’s Irving Plaza. In the realm of live video performance she has worked with such artists as Vernon Reid, Prema Murthy, Wharton Tiers, sculptor Jude Tallichet, and has an ongoing duo with Zeena Parkins. She is a frequent artist-in-residence at The Experimental Television Center in Owego, New York, and was a recent recipient of their Finishing Funds grant. Her latest video, We Hate You Little Boy, was featured in the multimedia exhibits “FACING FEAR” at the San Francisco Art Commission Gallery, and “VIVISECTION” at Location One in NYC.

For more information: http://www.echonyc.com/~myrakoob/performance/arch.html
Interview with Zeena and Janene at the “Noisy.org” website: http://www.noisy.org/mixology.html.

Click here to view the embedded video.