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INTRODUCTION
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PROGRAM THREE |
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 Image: Dani Leventhal, “Draft 9,” 2003. Courtesy Video Data Bank, Chicago. Text: VDB online catalogue: http://www.vdb.org. Reprinted with permission by VDB. . |
Dani Leventhal: Draft 9 At once tender and savage, Dani Leventhal’s video diaries capture the banal and the horrific to reveal the transcendent beauty and pain of daily life. In the award-winning Draft 9, Leventhal cuts between skinned animals, salsa dancers, a Holocaust-survivor, and her own romantic liaisons to create, in the words of critic Genevieve Yue, “something that is extraordinarily immediate, both fresh and painful, hard to watch and yet impossible not to watch.” Biography: Leventhal studied sculpture at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and received an MFA in Film/Video from Bard College. In 2009, she received the Visual Arts Award from the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice and produced a limited edition book and video, Skim Milk and Soft Wax at the Women’s Studio Workshop with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andy Warhol Foundation. Leventhal was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1972. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. |
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 Image: Jesse Mott and Steve Reinke, “Everybody,” 2009. Courtesy Video Data Bank, Chicago. Text: VDB online catalogue: http://www.vdb.org. Reprinted with permission by VDB. |
Jessie Mott & Steve Reinke: Everybody In this short animation, animals debate the sticky subject of body dysmorphia and the merits of reconstructive surgery. Biography: Jessie Mott is a multidisciplinary artist who currently lives in Chicago. She earned an MFA from Northwestern University and a BFA from New York University. Biography: Reinke’s work has been screened widely and is in several collections, including the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Pompidou (Paris), and the National Gallery (Ottawa). In the 1990’s he produced The Hundred Videos (1996), and a book of his scripts, Everybody Loves Nothing: Scripts 1997 - 2005 was published by Coach House (Toronto). He has co-edited several books, including By the Skin of Their Tongues: Artist Video Scripts, Lux: A Decade of Artists’ Film and Video, and The Sharpest Point: Animation at the End of Cinema. Reinke is currently associate professor of Art Theory & Practice at Northwestern University. |
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 Image: Bernadette Corporation, “Hell Frozen Over,” 2000. Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York. Text: EAI online catalogue: http://www.eai.org. Reprinted with permission by EAI. |
Bernadette Corporation: Hell Frozen Over Bernadette Corporation describes this work as “A fashion film about the poetry of Stéphane Mallarmé and the color white.” Produced for the 2000 Walker Art Center exhibition Let’s Entertain, this short video employs a range of strategies to approach the idea of nothingness, emptiness, and vacuity, with an eye to how these notions relate to contemporary mass-cultural entertainment. Juxtaposing “documentary” takes on a fashion shoot with footage of semiologist Sylvère Lotringer giving an impromptu lecture on Mallarmé on a frozen lake, Hell Frozen Over maintains an ambiguous stance from which to both critique and celebrate the power of surface. Biography: Since 1994, the anonymous, non-hierarchical group of artists known as Bernadette Corporation has explored strategies of cultural resistance and détournement. Bernadette Corporation has exhibited works at international venues including Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York (2002); Yvon Lambert, Paris (2004); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2004); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2005), and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2005), among others. |
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 Image: Elodie Pong, “Je Suis Une Bombe,” 2006. Courtesy Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam. Text: NIMK online catalogue: http://catalogue.nimk.nl. Reprinted with permission by NIMK. |
Elodie Pong: Je Suis Une Bombe A figure in a panda bear costume performs an erotic pole dance. The dance becomes more and more heated up, until it abruptly comes to an end. The panda removes its mask and a woman appears. She steps up to the camera to deliver her own praises of a complex image of woman, simultaneously strong and vulnerable, a potential powder keg. Biography: Elodie Pong is a Swiss artist and filmmaker known for her subtle, analytic works, often built as cycles or in series, which focus on human relationships, cultural codes and their impact on contemporary society. Elodie Pong has received several awards and grants; her work is exhibited in group and solo exhibitions worldwide. She lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland. |
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 Image: Shana Moulton, “Sand Saga,” 2008. Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York. Text: EAI online catalogue: http://www.eai.org. Reprinted with permission by EAI. |
Shana Moulton: Sand Saga In Sand Saga, Moulton’s alter ego Cynthia again gains access to a parallel universe via the transformative powers of New Age body treatments and domestic objects. After applying a facial beauty mask, she moves through an environment energized with Southwestern motifs and rituals, from sculpted heads and Georgia O’Keefe-like forms to sand painting and hot stone massage. Ultimately Cynthia is transported to a fantastical world and emerges transformed. Biography: Shana Moulton studied at the University of California, Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, where she received her MFA. Her video work has been screened and exhibited internationally, including at Art in General, New York; Migros Museum, Zurich; Contemporary Museum of Art, Uppsala; Rencontres internationales Paris/Berlin, Paris; Aurora, Edinburgh; Dark Light Festival, Dublin; Impakt Festival, Utrecht; Internationale Kurzfilmtage, Oberhausen; and Gimpel Fils, London. Moulton’s performances have been presented at venues including The Kitchen, New York; PERFORMA 09, New York; Aurora Picture Show, Houston; Electronic Arts Intermix, New York; The Bluecoat, Liverpool; Socrates Sculpture Park, New York; among others. |
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 Image: Neïl Beloufa, “Kempinski,” 2008. Courtesy Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam. Text: NIMK online catalogue: http://catalogue.nimk.nl. Reprinted with permission by NIMK. |
Neïl Beloufa: Kempinski Kempinski is a mystical and animist place. People emerge from the dark, holding fluorescent lamps; they speak about a magical world. Their testimonies spark confusion and contradiction: a second reading is necessary to fully understand what is going on in this unique blend of fiction (sci-fi) and ‘real’ documentary. The scenario of Kempinski, filmed in various towns in Mali, is defined by specific rules: interviewed people imagine the future and speak about it in the present tense. Kempinski thus cleverly challenges our exotic expectations and stereotypes about Africa. Biography: Neïl Beloufa studied visual arts at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (Paris), Cooper Union (New York) and CalArts (Valencia). In 2008, Neïl Beloufa’s Kempinski won the ARTE award at Oberhausener Kurzfilmtage, the Intercultural Dialogue award at the European Media Art Festival (Osnabrück), and the Short Film Grand Prize at the IndieLisboa Filmfestival. Neil Beloufa lives in Paris. |
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 Image: Semiconductor, “Black Rain,” 2009. Courtesy Video Data Bank, Chicago. Text: VDB online catalogue: http://www.vdb.org. Reprinted with permission by VDB. |
Semiconductor: Black Rain Working with STEREO scientists, Semiconductor collected all the HI image data to date, revealing the journey of the satellites from their initial orientation, to their current tracing of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Solar wind, CME’s, passing planets and comets orbiting the sun can be seen as background stars and the milky way pass by. As in Semiconductor’s previous work, Brilliant Noise, which looked into the sun, they work with raw scientific satellite data, which has not yet been cleaned and processed for public consumption. By embracing the artifacts, calibration and phenomena of the capturing process, we are reminded of the presence of the human observer who endeavors to extend our perceptions and knowledge through technological innovation. Biography: Semiconductor make moving image works which reveal our physical world in flux; cities in motion, shifting landscapes and systems in chaos. Since 1999 UK artists Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt have worked with digital animation to transcend the constraints of time, scale and natural forces, they explore the world beyond human experience questioning our very existence. Their award winning work has been exhibited extensively from Tate Britain and ICA London to the San Francisco Film Festival, Mutek Montreal and the Venice Biennale. |
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