For Eyes and Ears |
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Executive Director of the Carnegie Art Center, Ellen Ryan figured out years ago that you have to provide something special in order for your audience to make the trek from downtown Buffalo to North Tonawanda, and she hasn’t failed us yet. This year’s collaboration, “Eyes and Ears: Sound Needs Image,” brought film and video makers together with The Open Music Ensemble. The project was co-conceived by filmmaker Joanna Raczynska, who is also Media Arts Director at Hallwalls, and percussionist Will Redman, who is also a co-founder of the Open Music Ensemble.
The exhibition opened with a live screening/ performance on September 23. Video and film works were commissioned by twelve artists for this exhibition with the goal to provide visual musical scores for musicians to read. Elliot Caplan and Kelly Spivey used the lines and rhythms of architecture and roadways in New York City to create their compositions in “July 4, 2005, NYC” and “New York, 8pm, 8/25/05.” Caplan’s July 4th piece provided a kind of constant drone with long episodes of repeated forms. An occasional skyscraper in the distance gave musicians Will Redman and N. Andrew Walsh on contrabassoon the opportunity to peak or dip their sounds.
Dorothea Braemer, Executive Director of Squeaky Wheel, created a video, “Greta’s Ball,” with a kind of tic tac toe of cropped images of her daughter. Each image provided a moment for music as it came in and out of the video frame. The video, often with six images or themes, provided a multilayered score for a handful of musicians. Alan Rhodes’ video incorporated film footage projected on a wall with a window and doorway incorporating glimpses of drama and movement. His “Leaving,” a quiet meditation, was performed by solo violinist Ben Harris.
Brian Milbrand’s untitled piece was made of three separate films, one each in red, yellow or blue, each projected separately, layered on the screen. Each color provided a theme for the musicians to follow in the splashy and complicated abstract work. Carolyn Tennant’s “Intensity Priority” took advantage of the technology created by Dave Jones at the Experimental Television Center. Rolling static and undulating stripes turn image into pattern, providing texture for musicians to translate.
DVDs of the video or film works with sound scores have been made and are screened at the Carnegie throughout the exhibition on six monitors with headphones. The second group of collaborations includes works by Stephen Vilitello, Siew-wai Kok, Jan Nagle, Vince Mistretta, Carl Lee and Stephanie Gray, with a live music performance again at the Closing on October 22 at 7pm. Visit the Carnegie online at www.carnegieartcenter.org.
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Issue Navigation> Issue Index > v4n40: Toxic Art (10/6/05) > For Eyes and Ears This Week's Issue • Artvoice Daily • Artvoice TV • Events Calendar • Classifieds |
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