News Archive.
[May 2009]
An
artist book I made using photocopiers is part of an exhibition called
Writing with Light, at the Luminary Center for the Arts in St. Louis. My film Errata is also on display in the gallery.
Secret School is pleased to collaborate with Alexander Stewart to examine the importance of food in fostering social networks and the possibilities of barter exchange in decentralizing market systems. A food for art supply swap will begin the event at 6PM and last until 8PM, followed by a 90 minute program of videos that explore cultural relationships with food, including those of Patty Chang, Cecilia Ramirez-Corzo, Joey Frank, Andy Cahill, Liz Magic Laser and Dafna Maimon, Sophia Peer, Karen Tam, Pizza Dog, and a few other food-themed surprises. Secret School and Stewart will issue a corresponding book of recipes, essays, and anecdotes about food.
Bring a homemade dish or art supplies for entry. Arrive early for the swap, stay for the screening.
Return for open format crafting and snacking sessions, a.k.a. Crafternoons. Noon-5PM every Saturday from April 4 - May 2. Bring snacks, crafts, and friends
Secret School [March 2009]
Collected links relevant to the Coax installation, done with George Monteleone, up at Roots & Culture as part of the End of Analog show:
End of Analog blog, featuring downloadable catalog TimeOut Chicago review ArtForum review NewCity Chicago review [February 20]
Coax, a new video installation done collaboratively with
George Monteleone, will be opening as part of the End of Analog show at
Roots and Culture, this Friday, February 20, 2009. The piece is a two-channel video installation, based around a tv-tuner suit George and I made. Wires sewn into the suit work as receptors for television signals, and the suit attaches to a tv by a co-ax cable. By adjusting our bodies, George and I are able to adjust the tuning on the television. The gallery installation features two synchronized videos, one of the recorded suit-performances, and the other a feed of the resulting television signals.
[January 24]
Peter Miller and I will be in Rotterdam to present our collaborative film
On the Logic of Dubious Historical Accounts, 1969-1972 at the
International Film Festival Rotterdam. [February 3]
Works In Progress series at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Lilli Carre and I will be set up with an animation multi-plane in the MCA lobby, working from 11 am - 7 pm. We are collaborating on a new animation project about the organization of books.
[December 2008]
Chicago and the Universe New Chicago film & video from 2008
Thursday December 11, Aula screening hall,
KHM (Academy for Media Arts) Cologne, Germany, 4:00 pm
Sunday December 14,
Tat gallery, Berlin, Germany, 6:00 pm
[November 22]
Chicago and the Universe
New Chicago film & video from 2008
Roots & Culture gallery
November 22, 2008
Two screening times: 8:00 pm and 10:00 pm
This program collects a range of outstanding film & video pieces made by Chicago artists in 2008, in order to take the pulse of current moods and attitudes about moving image work in Chicago. All operating in the mode of personal, artistic and non-commercial cinema, the ten shorts in this program include examples of animation, experimental narrative, science fiction, political, psychedelic and found footage work by young Chicago artists.
Films in program:
Animated GIF of the Day Compilation, Pizza Dog
Yard Work is Hard Work, Jodie Mack
Self-Control, Latham Zearfoss
No Man's Land, Chelsea Tonelli Knight
Morton Salt Factory, Tim Ridlen
Buoy Boy, Jesse McManus
Night Walks, George Monteleone
Black Iron Vatican, Andy Roche
The Universe and Young Pilot Nelson, Jerzy Rose
Man's Hands, Christopher Santiago
All Through The Night, Michael Robinson.
[October 31]
On the Logic of Dubious Historical Accounts, 1969-1972, a film made in collaboration with
Peter Miller, will screen in Chicago as part of the
Chicago Underground Film Festival. This is a short film showing Hasselblad cameras falling through space and hitting the surface of the moon. This piece lies somewhere at the intersection of forged documentation, camera fetishism and the logic of dubious historical accounts.
Screening 9:15 pm Friday October 31, Viaduct Theater, 3111 N. Western Ave., Chicago.
[October 5]
Errata will be screened as part of the Nightingale's Chicago Animator screening - the Chicago Primer October Screamer. Two screenings, both on Sunday, Oct. 5, at 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm. From Cine-File:
"An all-local-animation show, screening as part of Chicago Artists Month. The Nightingale writes: "In order to gear up for Halloween, we have chosen some of the quirkiest, quietest, and creepiest short work to stimulate your amygdala region. Included is Alexander Stewart's amazing Xerox animation, ERRATA (2005), which creates a subtle and ever-changing abstract work reminiscent of Action painting through the use of hundreds of photocopied images. Plus work of all shades of animation-imagination by Jodie Mack, Jim Trainor, Yoonah Nam, Chris Hefner, Sean Buckelew, Seungwon Lee, Jason Halprin, Andy Cahill, Gretta Johnson, and David Essman. Several artists in person. PF"
Sunday, October 5
2 pm and 6 pm
1084 N Milwaukee Ave at Thomas St
[Late Summer 08]
Three screenings are lined up for late summer and fall at R&C. Jim Trainor will present a video mixtape as part of the Zummer Tapez series on August 30, and Tom Comerford will screen a program of 16mm work at Nightingale on September 12. Thorne Brandt and
Pizza Dog have something from the outer limits of the universe of animation in the works for October.
[July 13]
A program representing the Roots & Culture screening series will run this month at the
Harold Arts residency, held outside of Chesterhill, Ohio. The program includes work by Melika Bass, Michael Robinson, Jared Larson, Chelsea Knight, Inge Hoonte, Eric Patrick and Andy Roche.
[June 27]
Roots & Culture gallery was chosen as Best Gallery in the
Reader's Best of Chicago 2008 survey. The writeup includes a blurb on the screening series.
[Summer 08]
I have a couple of projects I'm working on this summer - In July and August, I'll be doing some shoots in Alabama as part of my Ft. Morgan project. I have just finished building a multiplane animation stand which looks like it might be used for a collaborative animation with Lilli Carre. And, in late June/early July, I am working on a documentary/experimental piece about tactics in match-sprint velodrome racing. Below is an image of Mathew Jinks on location recording some sound for the project.
[May 9]
Campaign-trail documents by Bill Stamets
Friday, May 9, 2008
8:00 pm
Nightingale Theater, 1084 N. Milwaukee (corner of Milwaukee & Thomas)
$5 suggested donation
As the 2008 presidential campaign plods on, perhaps it's time for a flashback to the dark days of late-20th-century campaigning.
Chicago documenter Bill Stamets brings out three campaign-trail treasures, primary, caucus, convention, and inauguration footage shot in '88, '92 and '96. With a light touch reminiscent of Frederick Wiseman, these documents provide a look back at past political landscapes. In the first few minutes of these films, we get a distinct impression that the players rotate, but the political game stays the same. But after a half-hour of watching Stamets's films, and recognizing politician after politician, it becomes clear that the faces of our political landscape really haven't changed in twenty years: Al Gore, Bob Dole, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader, Hillary Clinton, Pat Buchannan. What really changes in this quadrennial game?
Armed with a Super-8 and later a Hi-8 camera, Stamets embeds wth the press-corps using amateur cameras to notice moments at the margins of the "real" reportage. In this day of incessant, round-the-clock audio and video coverage of all candidates, Stamets's films have a strange sense of prescience to them. On one hand, they anticipate the intense coverage of unscripted moments with cell phones and miniature digital camcorders that cam make or break a candidate who slips even the tiniest bit. But more interestingly, they are situated in a historical moment when that type of equipment was available for those purposes, but before it became so common that politicians learned to fully protect themselves or manipulate it. The masterful charisma of Bill Clinton is striking in these films, as is a fleeting moment of what looks like boredom mixed with dread that crosses Jesse Jackson's face in the midst of an Iowa meet 'n' greet.
[May 2]
On Friday, May 2, 2008, I will be presenting a program of videos at Curtis Hall in the Fine Arts Building (410 S. Michigan) as part of
Looptopia. The videos are highlights from the screening series I have been running at
Roots & Culture gallery since the fall of 2006. Featured in the program will be works from Inge Hoonte, Chelsea Knight, Jared Larsen, Andy Roche, Brendan Meara, Xander Marro, Eric Patrick and Melika Bass. The pieces in the program are some of my favorite films and videos that have come through the gallery in the past year and a half, and I think it's a really excellent collection of outstanding work by local and national artists. The show starts at 9:00 pm, and will last 1 hour 45 mins.
[April 12] This Saturday, April 12,
Roots & Culture will be hosting a screening of films by Melika Bass. With a seductive aesthetic that combines experimental narrative practices with poetic scenarios and visual lyricism, Bass's short films are beautifully-constructed mysteries without simple answers, or even simple questions. Her films offer a glimpse into a half-remembered dream world that tempers its surreal elegance with grit, grime and heartbreak inherited from eastern-European film tradition. Included in this Roots & Culture screening will be Bass's films Songs from the Shed (2008), The Quarry (2007), Bulb in the Head (2006), Story Ever Told (2005) and Asleep in the Deep (2002) as well as some surprise treats Bass has collected for the evening.
8:00 pm, Roots & Culture gallery, 1034 N. Milwukee Ave, admission free.
[March 4 - 16]
Errata will be screened at the
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, as part of a program of videos presented by Tim Ridlen and
Boots Contemporary Arts Space.
[February 29]
Errata will be featured in the
Motion Graphics Festival 08 in Boston, presented through
Lumen Eclipse. The event includes work from artists, filmmakers and motion graphics professionals. There will be an opening reception and screening on Friday, February 29 from 7:00-9:00 pm at the Middlesex Lounge (315 Mass Ave) in Cambridge. Afterwards,
Errata will be on display on a video kiosk in Harvard Square, as well as online through the
Lumen Eclipse site.
[January] A new Flash animation Lilli and I did for
the Point, titled "The Smart Shopper," is up on their site. Be sure to check out the Chicago Winter Dome campaign, as well as Lilli's great rollover illustration for the "
About Us" page. And while you're at it, view this
informative and entertaining video on the Point by founder Andrew Mason.
[January] The second edition of the SAIC Film Video & New Media DVD is available through the
FVNM department. This year's DVD contains my movie
Errata as well as some fantastic work by
Lilli Carré, Mark Gallay & Noe Kidder,
Christopher Becks and other recent graduates. [January 2008] Exciting shows lined up for this spring season at Deadtech and Roots & Culture. Here's the plan, as of January 20 (these dates are likely but are certainly subject to change):
[December 2007] I'm working on the schedule for screenings and shows in 2008. Tentatively planned at Roots & Culture are screenings from Melika Bass and Michael Robinson, and at Deadtech we have invited Sabine Gruffat to do an installation, and Bert Stabler is planning his "Angry Goldsworthy" project for sometime this spring. Stay tuned for details.
[November 17] Two stellar events in one stellar night! I have been doing shows at Deadtech and Roots & Culture for the past year, and this is the first time that events at the two spaces are occurring on the same night.
-Roots and Culture. Eric Patrick will be presenting program of four of his experimental films at 7:30 pm. Eric's films use stop-motion, live action, photographic techniques and sound collages in experimental narratives. Screening on Saturday Nov. 17 will be Stark Film (1997), Ablution (2001), Roothold (2003), and Startle Pattern (2005). This screening and discussion should last around an hour, which gives you enough time to get out to Logan Square to see the second event of the night at...
-Deadtech. We are opening a show of work by onetime Chicagoan Jeremy Boyle. Jeremy will be showing a piece from his recent spinning-screen video projects, and setting up a pair of his self-playing instruments. A musical performance in which Jeremy and guitarist Todd Mattei improvise along with the robotic instruments will begin at 9:30.
[October 13] On Saturday October 13, Roots and Culture gallery will be hosting a screening of work by current students in the film & video graduate program at CalArts. Vera Brunner-Sung, a CalArts MFA student who arranged the showcase, will be presenting the work. More information and screening program here.
[October 2] Errata will be screening at the San Francisco Cinematheque as part of a program of new films from the Canyon Cinema catalog on Sunday, October 14, at 7:30 pm. The program includes films by Eric Patrick, Michael Snow, Robert Nelson and Thorsten Fleisch. Details here.
[September 30] Huong Ngo at Deadtech. We will be opening a show of work by Huong Ngo on Saturday, October 6, from 7:00-10:00 pm. Huong says: "Kosmolet is a radio drawing, a functional receiver made out of common household materials, that spans the entire gallery space. Delicate wire lines serve as antennas, bricolaged cardboard and aluminum foil become the frequency tuners, and lowly cardboard tubes are transformed into noble inductor coils." In addition, Huong has set up models and an animation from her Moonchitecture project with Rob Allen. Close to two hundred bubble-pods with micro-scale lunar architecture and landscaping are on display.
Huong's work is on view at Deadtech though November 10. Gallery hours are Tuesdays, 8pm-midnight, Saturdays, noon-5pm, and by appointment.
[September 27] Lilli Carre and I made four short animations for our friend Andrew's company, The Point. We drew them in Flash, using Lilli's drawings and simple wiggly cycles to illustrate Andrew's scripts. The site launched today, it's a really great social-action organization tool. Please check out The Point, and take a peek at our animations.
[September 26] From the High Impact review in this week's Time Out Chicago:
"...Alexander Stewart and Peter Miller's silent, haunting 16mm film, On the Logic of Dubious Historical Accounts, 1969-1972. The digitally projected film's abraded quality, blue tint, dusty detritus and subject matter (cameras slowly falling in space) are meant to evoke footage of the 1969 Apollo moon landing. According to the artists, astronauts brought 12 high-quality Hasselblad cameras to photograph the moon and Earth. To economize on weight for the return to Earth, the cameras were left on the moon, where they remain today. The film re-creates the disposal of the cameras, which the artists portray gently falling in the low gravity of the moon and impacting the lunar surface.
For some viewers, the ease with which the artists were able to re-create the look of a low-gravity environment might bolster claims that the moon landing was faked. For others, the image of a boxy camera falling and twisting in space and the delicate, scratchy patina of the 16mm film are resonant enough." -James Glisson
[September 24] Short clip from the project I did with Peter Miller:
[September 15] Preview images of the collaborative installation Peter Miller and I have been working on, opening at Deadtech on September 15. Photo prints from this project will be exhibited through Duchess gallery at The AFFAIR art show at Jupiter Hotel in Portland, OR, on September 14-16.
On the Logic of Dubious Historical Accounts, 1969-1972 is a short film showing Hasselblad cameras falling through space and hitting the surface of the moon. This piece lies somewhere at the intersection of forged documentation, camera fetishism, and questionable histories.
On each of the Apollo moon missions, NASA astronauts brought along Hasselblad 500 cameras to take pictures. These cameras and their Zeiss lenses remained for many years as the gold standard for fashion photographers, and embody optical and mechanical perfection. Though expensive and highly prized, the cameras brought by NASA to the moon were left behind by the astronauts in order to cut down on weight for the return trip to earth. Supposedly, twelve Hasselblad 500 cameras remain on the moon.
Stanley Kubrick, who directed a moon landing in 1968's 2001, is thought to have also directed the Neil Armstrong moon landing in 1969 in exchange for a Zeiss lens from NASA to use in Barry Lyndon. Since Kubrick's film documents the astronauts and the lunar lander, our film is only concerned with creating documentation for the Hasselblad cameras on the moon. This film recreates the descent of the Hasselblad cameras from the hand of the astronaut to the surface of the moon.
[Fall 07] The Roots & Culture fall screening series has been scheduled. We are screening work by Jared Larsen, Vera Brunner-Sung (and other CalArts grad students,) Tom Commerford and Eric Patrick. Dates and further details soon.
[Fall 07] The fall schedule for Deadtech is set. We are featuring an installation of miniature Martian factories by Huong Ngo, opening October 6, and a show of work by Jeremy Boyle in November. In September, Taylor Hokanson, Rob Ray and I will be presenting our own work in a group show called High Impact. I will be showing a new film piece, a collaboration with Peter Miller, based on staging the Apollo 11 moon landing, and the Hasselblad camera body left on the moon by Neil Armstrong.
[August 25] Bill Brown at Roots & Culture. The third Zummer Tapez screening will be on Saturday, August 25 at 8:30 pm. Bill Brown will be presenting a video mixtape of odds and ends from his films and travels. Don't miss it!
[Late Summer/Fall 07] Errata will be featured on the next edition of the SAIC Film Video & New Media department DVD, which showcases work of recent students. The DVD is currently in production and should be available through the FVNM department in the fall.
[July 28] Victor Caryo at Roots & Culture. The second installment of the Zummer Tapez series takes place Saturday, July 28 at Roots & Culture gallery with a screening of work by comics artist Victor Cayro. Victor will be presenting a video mixtape of his work and influences. Screening starts at 8:30 pm.
[July 17] Brown River closing at Roots & Culture. The CCR/John Fogerty themed swamp show at Roots & Culture will be coming down with a closing party on Tuesday from noon until 3 pm. I have a series of photos in the show taken with a homemade lens at swamps in Cook county. The closing party will feature a musical performance and a video screening. Take a look at one of the swamps, Cramer's Slough. More images from the show on Bert's Flickr page.
[July 14] I will be presenting a program of videos at Boots Contemporary Art Space in St. Louis on Saturday, July 14, at 8:30 pm. The screening features experimental animation and documentaries from filmmakers who grapple with the scale and vast emptiness of northern landscapes. Information on the screening can be found here. Work by Huong Ngo, Dariusz Kowalski, Inge Hoonte, Andy Roche, Inger Lise Hansen and Bill Brown are included in the program.
[Summer 07] Zummer Tapez at Roots & Culture.Andy Roche and I have invited three artists to participate in a screening series this summer at Roots & Culture gallery. Each person will be presenting a video mix-tape containing bits and pieces representing their interests and influences. The artists will introduce their tapes and offer commentary and even performances in conjunction with their tapes. The screenings are scheduled for the last Saturdays in June, July and August: animator Chris Sullivan on June 30, comics artist Victor Cayro on July 28, and documentary filmmaker Bill Brown on August 25.
[May 1, 3 & 17] Errata will be screening as part of a program called Landscape Bending at the 2007 Image Forum Festival in Japan in May. Included in the program along with Errata are films by Chris Curreri, Chip Lord (Ant Farm,) and Emily Richardson. The dates for the program are May 1st and 3rd in Tokyo and May 17th in Kyoto.
[May 11] Matt Steinke's installation Haruspex will be opening at Deadtech on Friday, May 11. The show is themed on Matt's exploration of invisible, forgotten and neglected elements, particularly where they are parts of the collections of museums. Opens 8:00 pm, May 11. Haruspex was the Critic's Choice in the Chicago Reader, which featured a short write-up of the work. Timeout Chicago also featured a nice review of Matt's show in their May 31 issue.
[May 12] We will be screening a program of video work by Chelsea Knight on May 12 at Roots and Culture gallery. Chelsea's videos focus on working with ambiguously fictional elements in documetary contexts, and with factual elements in fictional narratives. The program, titled Small Fantasies, screens at 8:30, May 12.
[April 2] The Wisconsin Film Festival in Madison will be screening Errata on April 14 in a program of animated shorts. Also showing in this program are films by Janie Geiser, Larry Jordan and Chel White.
[March 29] Training & Development has contributed selections from the T&D archives for Corporate Art Expo 07 at The LAB gallery in San Francisco. The show opens with a reception on Friday March 30 from 6-9 pm.
[April 21] Simon Lonergan and his Lady Dancers at Deadtech. Simon will be presenting a series of sound works on Saturday at Deadtech. In his inimitable style, Simon's rendition of these pieces will be supported by a cast of dancing assistants and presented as a multi-phase vaudvillian extravaganza. Featured works include Alvin Lucier's Queen of the South reinterpreted as McQueen of the South and pieces by composer Steve Reich and writer Kenneth Maue. Show starts at 8pm.
[April 4] Xander Marro at Roots & Culture We will be screening a program of films by Providence artist Xander Marro on Sunday April 15th at 8:00 pm at Roots & Culture. Xander lives at the Dirt Palace and makes a variety of types of work. She also runs the famous Movies With Live Soundtracks series. We will be screening two of her puppet films, Isemond and The Further Adventures of Lady Long Arms in the Land of Love and two abstract stop-motion films, L'Eye and The Pattern of Ritual.
[April 1] Roland Roos at Deadtech. On Saturday April 7, Roland Roos will be presenting a sound composition at Deadtech. The piece features an audio composition for a computer, designed by Roland, and a group of musicians he has invited to play with/against the computer. Featured musicians include Frank Rosaly on Wurlitzer, Tomeka Reid on cello, vocalist Joana Aderi (who traveled a roundabout route from Norway for this performance!), and a fourth mystery performer. The concert starts at 9pm. $5.00 at the door.
[March 2] Kyung Woo Han and Eun Sun Lee at Deadtech. On Saturday, March 10, we opened a show of work by Kyung Woo Han and Eun Sun Lee at Deadtech. The show was titled Breathe In Between and featured two video installations by Han and one by Eun Sun. It was a completely excellent show! The show closed March 27, but you can catch more of Han & Eun Sun's work at the SAIC MFA show in May at Gallery 2 in Chicago.
[February 23] Lilli Carré and I collaborated on a tiny theater for the Baby Chicago show at Green Lantern gallery. The show is up through March 3.
[February 18] Errata will screen as part of the Animation Screening Series at the University of Chicago Film Studies Center. The screening takes place on Friday, February 23, 2007, at 7:30 pm.
[January 21] Inge Hoonte at Roots & Culture.
On Saturday, February 3, 2007, Roots & Culture gallery will be presenting work by Dutch artist Inge Hoonte, a SAIC alum now living in Brooklyn. The event will feature a short play by Inge set at Atomix coffee shop in Chicago as well as the screening of a documentary about one-room schoolhouses in rural Canada and her collection of video vignettes "Anything is Inside Everything," which was a part of her 2006 MFA exhibition at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
[January 16] In light of recent international attention focused on the micronation of Sealand, I have posted a version of my 2004 animation "Richard Brautigan visits the Micronations: Sealand."
[January 4] I provided the voice for the main character in "How She Slept at Night," a short animation by Lilli Carré. The piece was invited to show at the Sundance Film Festival this month, and Lilli and I will be in Utah January 18-20 for one of the screenings of her film.
2006
[December 10] Images at Teti gallery.
This Thursday, December 14, will be an opening at Teti gallery in Chicago for a group show. A few new pieces of mine will be in the exhibit, images from a series of work which looks at dust and miniscule analog marks as cosmic scenarios. The images I am showing are made from microfilm readers, and printed like some sort of astral photography.
[December 1] Dream Jogger: Films by Andy Roche.
On Saturday, December 9, Chicago filmmaker Andy Roche will be screening three of his recent films, Born to Live Life, TETEDEMORT, and Harpo: Don't Shoot the Powder at Roots & Culture gallery. The screening starts at 7 pm, and you can find Roots & Culture at the corner of Milwaukee Ave. & Noble St. in Chicago. (Blue Line to Chicago stop, north on Milwaukee.) Andy will be introducing the films and providing interesting context, anecdotes and philosophical insights. This is going to be totally outrageous, don't miss it!
This is the first in a series of (quasi) monthly screenings I am curating at Roots & Culture. Be on the lookout for more exciting screenings in 2007.
