March 22, 2007
AURORA PICTURE SHOW
MEDIA ARCHEOLOGY: BELOW-FI
AURORA PICTURE SHOW PRESENTS MEDIA ARCHEOLOGY: BELOW-FI :: APRIL 19-21, 2007 :: 800 Aurora Street, Houston, TX 77009 :: Aurora Picture Show, recognized as the most innovative microcinema in Texas, presents the fourth annual Media Archeology Festival April 19-21, 2007. Featuring live audio-visual events at three Houston venues, the festival highlights artists who use found and original electronic media to produce live multimedia performances that combine film or video projection, theater, and music.
This year’s festival is titled Media Archeology: Below-Fi and features a number of internationally recognized multimedia artists who eschew computers in the creation of time-based audiovisual work. Curated by New York musician and curator Nick Hallett, the 2007 festival includes performances by Bruce McClure, Ray Sweeten, Dynasty Handbag, Nautical Almanac, Tristan Perich, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, and visuals by Mighty Robot.
“For anyone interested in the future of moving image art, Media Archeology is a must-attend annual event,” explains Aurora Picture Show Founding/Executive Director Andrea Grover.
Curator Nick Hallett has programmed for The Kitchen, New York Underground Film Festival, Ocularis, Monkey Town, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art's TBA festival, Scope Art Fair Hamptons, Artists Television Access (San Francisco), Pacific Film Archive and All Tomorrow's Parties rock festival in addition to his regular series in New York: Harkness A/V (time based media salon), Darmstadt (contemporary music), and Maison Du Chic (multimedia "cabaret"). Hallett's creative projects range from composing music for film and theater to installation and performance. He originated the band "Plantains," which from 2000 to 2003 operated as a live multimedia act, with electronic music and video.
Media Archeology: Below-Fi venues include Aurora Picture Show, Domy Bookstore, and The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art. For program dates and times visit www.aurorapictureshow.org or call 713.868.2101.
Media Archeology Schedule
Bruce McClure :: Thursday, April 19, 8:30pm :: Aurora Picture Show, 800 Aurora Street :: Tickets are $10 per show ($8 for Aurora members) or $15 for a festival pass ($10 for Aurora members) and are available by contacting Aurora at 713.868.2101 or aurora[at]aurorapictureshow.org.
Bruce McClure uses the tools and occasion of film projection to create a visceral hybrid of vaudeville, installation and cinema. Drawing on the experience of Harold Edgerton's stroboscopic flash and the flicker films of recent decades, McClure applies his formal training as an architect to construct mind-altering, multi-projector works of light and obstruction accompanied by optical sound.
Ray Sweeten :: Thursday, April 19, 8:30pm :: Aurora Picture Show, 800 Aurora Street :: Tickets are $10 per show ($8 for Aurora members) or $15 for a festival pass ($10 for Aurora members) and are available by contacting Aurora at 713.868.2101 or aurora[at]aurorapictureshow.org.
Ray Sweeten extends the tradition of experimental- cinema pioneer (and Houston native) Mary Ellen Bute with his use of the oscilloscope–an instrument which charts the flow of electrical impulse on an x and y axis–to generate lush, geometric animations. Though its main applications are in the scientific research field, Sweeten uses the oscilloscope to visualize compositions for sweeping electronic sound, creating unique sculptural patterns.
Dynasty Handbag :: Friday, April 20, 8:30 pm :: Domy Bookstore, 1709 Westheimer (rain location: Aurora Picture Show) :: Tickets are $10 per show ($8 for Aurora members) or $15 for a festival pass ($10 for Aurora members) and are available by contacting Aurora at 713.868.2101 or aurora[at]aurorapictureshow.org.
Born out of the San Francisco experimental rock scene, Dynasty Handbag is the one-woman/portable/electro/performance/music vehicle created and executed by "crackpot genius" (Village Voice) Jibz Cameron. Her elastic physicality, miraculous timing, minimalist melody arrangements combined with an over the top stage persona make for a piece of art comedy that is the expulsion of all things serious in a young woman.
Nautical Almanac :: Friday, April 20, 8:30 pm :: Domy Bookstore, 1709 Westheimer (rain location: Aurora Picture Show) :: Tickets are $10 per show ($8 for Aurora members) or $15 for a festival pass ($10 for Aurora members) and are available by contacting Aurora at 713.868.2101 or aurora[at]aurorapictureshow.org.
Nautical Almanac is the duo of Baltimore-based artists Carly Ptak and Twig Harper. By breaking apart amateur electronic devices, guitar pedals, stereo components, and children's toys, the two have created an arsenal of original musical instruments, from which they generate their explosive and genre-defying sound.
Tristan Perich, 1-Bit Music :: Saturday, April 21, 8:30pm :: The Orange Show, 2402 Munger (rain location: Aurora Picture Show) :: Tickets are $10 per show ($8 for Aurora members) or $15 for a festival pass ($10 for Aurora members) and are available by contacting Aurora at 713.868.2101 or aurora[at]aurorapictureshow.org.
Tristan Perich’s 1-Bit Music project harnesses the most basic form of digital sound to complex, electrifying effect. Incorporating original minimal techno music which has been programmed and implemented into simple circuitry available in the form of a CD jewel case, Tristan accompanies his art-cum-music devices with live drumming and 1-Bit video.
Quintron and Miss Pussycat :: Saturday, April 21, 8:30pm :: The Orange Show, 2402 Munger (rain location: Aurora Picture Show) :: Tickets are $10 per show ($8 for Aurora members) or $15 for a festival pass ($10 for Aurora members) and are available by contacting Aurora at 713.868.2101 or aurora[at]aurorapictureshow.org.
Direct from the 9th ward of New Orleans, organ player and inventor Mr. Quintron, along with his partner-in-crime, Miss Pussycat, deliver a frenzied musical experience featuring "swamp tech" beats played on the Drum Buddy, a mechanically-rotating, five-oscillator, light-activated drum machine. As Mr. Quintron fingers boogie woogie basses and gospel chords on his nightclub organ (built out to resemble a car) and spins the Drum Buddy as a DJ scratches a record, Miss Pussycat plays maracas and performs avant-garde puppet theater.
Visuals by Mighty Robot A/V Squad: Mighty Robot are Brooklyn’s legendary visuals team, using the techniques of the 60s Psychedelic Lightshow as their starting point to create an hybrid of expanded cinema, synesthetic improvisation, and general mayhem. “The Mighty Robot Audio Visual Squad were on top form this night and the stage was constantly washed in waves of color and texture”— Punkcast
Ticket Information
Tickets to each individual show are $10 per show ($8 for Aurora members) or Aurora fans can purchase a $15 festival pass ($10 for Aurora members) to all performances. Tickets are available by contacting Aurora at 713.868.2101 or aurora[at]aurorapictureshow.org.
About Aurora Picture Show
Founded in 1998, the Aurora Picture Show is the only facility of its kind in the Southwest. Art in America has called it “one of the most interesting and unusual new spaces in Houston.” Housed in a 1924 converted church building in the Heights this 100 seat theater is part of the micro-cinema movement that began in the mid-1990’s. Aurora supports non-commercial independent and artist-made film, video and new media artists through fifty programs a year. Aurora’s human scale promotes a meaningful and community-oriented exchange between artists and audiences.
Aurora Picture Show is funded by its stellar membership, Houston Endowment, Inc, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Brown Foundation,Inc., Oshman Foundation, Nightingale Code Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, and National Endowment for the Arts. Aurora Picture Show is a proud member of Fresh Arts Coalition.
Contact: Delicia Harvey
harvey@aurorapictureshow.org
Phone: 713.868.2101, Fax: 713.868.2104
Posted by jo at March 22, 2007 01:07 PM
