Never Twice
Lary 7, Bradley Eros, Barbara Hammer, Ken Jacobs, Rose Kallal, Andrew Lampert, Bruce McClure, Joel Schlemowitz

December 11, 2015 – January 10, 2016
Performances on Sunday 12/13, 12/20, 1/3, 1/10

From “Black Space” by Ken Jacobs (2015) – image courtesy of the artist

Microscope is extremely pleased to present “Never Twice”, an exhibition of live moving image performance in the context of what is usually referred to as expanded cinema: works free from the constraints or presenting alternatives to the traditional theatrical screening setting – single projection on a screen before an audience. The title of the exhibit, a reference to the quote from Heraclitus “one cannot step into the same river twice”, emphasizes the ephemeral character of this art form, one always intrinsically connected to a “here” and “now”, a multi-sensorial experience that although it may be performed again, it cannot ever be replicated.

“Never Twice” features eight New York artists recognized for their extensive work with this performative practice, many for decades, including Ken Jacobs, who participated in the “Festival of Expanded Cinema” as it was described on the poster for the event 50 years ago at the Filmmakers’ Cinemathèque run by Jonas Mekas. In some cases, other terms were or are preferred by the artists to describe their works such as “paracinema”, as used by Jacobs, or “contracted cinema” as presented by Bradley Eros.

The exhibit will unfold over the course of the month with gallery hours 1pm to 6pm Friday through Monday during which the artists have the option to be present to set up or take down equipment, rehearse and engage in other activities around their live performances on that Sunday night. On Mondays the remnants of the previous night’s performances will be on view.



From “Aldebaran” by Rose Kallal (2015) – photo by James Welburn


Among new works in the exhibit are Black Space by Ken Jacobs, a 3-part work in which the audience, seated in total darkness, is guided by the artist’s voice until surround sound and strobe flashes take over; Barbara Hammer’s Evidentiary Bodies, where the artist armed with portable projectors moves about the space aiming at an inflated balloon and the artist’s collage that incorporate personal photographs and medical x-rays; and Lary 7′s performance involving 35mm film loops loaded on his ”Yeep-yop” machine, an open projector tipped on its side in which the shutter opens only when the film advances, causing light bursts and syncing mishaps.

Other new works include “Albuquerque”, a performance by Andrew Lampert using video and broken films in broken projectors; Bradley Eros’ Screens <>, a projection based performance and installation made of colored gels, defraction grating, mylar, glass, to be viewed from both sides and in relation to Duchamp’s 1918 “To Be Looked at (from the Other Side of the Glass) with One Eye, Close to, for Almost an Hour”; and a performance and installation work by Joel Schlemowitz An Alchemic Amalgam presenting triptychs of projections in 35mm slides, 16mm film, magic lantern and overhead projector with images sourced from alchemy illustrations, moiré patterns, science films and new footage shot and developed at the gallery during the preceding days, all with live electronic accompaniment by Enrique Paoli.

Also on view are Bruce McClure’s performance for shoeless projector previously presented in Paris at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Textiles Through the Ages (2014), involving a found 16mm film projected through an Eiki projector from which the artist has removed film shoe and bracket assembly to allow the filmstrip to be pulled in front of the aperture completely disengaged, and “Aldebaran” by Rose Kallal, featuring original 16mm film loops containing imagery of video synthesis, film and computer animation accompanied by a live modular synth score.

A round table discussion about the practice of expanded cinema as well as its definition both historically and today, will be held on Monday January 4th, 7:30pm at the gallery. Several of the exhibited artists will be joining the discussion, as well as other guests TBA (more info here).

Ken Jacobs / Bruce McClure
Gallery Hours Friday 12/11 – Monday 12/14, 1-6pm
Performance Sunday 12/13/15, 7pm
More info HERE

Rose Kallal / Andrew Lampert
Gallery Hours Friday 12/18 – Monday 12/21, 1-6pm
Performance Sunday 12/20, 7pm
More info HERE

Joel Schlemowitz / Bradley Eros
Gallery Hours Friday 1/1 – Monday 1/4, 2016, 1-6pm
Performance Sunday 1/3/16, 7pm
More info HERE

Monday January 4, 7:30pm
THE DISCUSSION
as part of Never Twice: Live Expanded Cinema Performance
w/ Ken Jacobs, Bruce McClure, Bradley Eros, Barbara Hammer, Andrew Lampert, Joel Schlemowitz, Jonas Mekas, and others
More info HERE

Barbara Hammer / Lary 7
Gallery Hours Friday 1/8 – Monday 1/11, 2016, 1-6pm
Performance Sunday 1/10/16, 7pm
More info HERE

From “An Alchemic Amalgam” by Joel Schlemowitz (2015) – Image courtesy of the artist

From “Evidentiary Bodies” by Barbara Hammer (2016) – Image courtesy of the artist

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Lary 7 (born in Buffalo, New York) is a multimedia artist whose work mainly features analog, vintage and forgotten electronic instruments and technologies of the 20th century. Lary 7 is a co-founder of Plastickville Records and has been a major figure in the New York experimental underground music scene since 1970. Prior to living in New York City, 7 studied with Paul Sharits, Tony Conrad, and Hollis Frampton at SUNY Buffalo. In the course of the past decades he has worked on exceptional musical projects with diverse artists such as Jimi Tenor, Jarboe, Foetus, Tony Conrad, Alexander Hacke, Larry Mullins, Dorit Chrysler, Bernhard Gal, Jakob Kirkegard, Ken Montgomery, Michael Evans and Gordon Monahan among others. In 2013, Lary 7 was one of the last artists-in-residence at the Clocktower Gallery’s epic lower Manhattan location. Audio Visual Arts gallery in New York presented a solo exhibition of his work in 2014.

Bradley Eros is a Brooklyn-based artist working in myriad mediums including film & video, collage, performance, contracted and expanded cinema & installation. Eros works have exhibited and screened extensively in the US and abroad including at Microscope Gallery, The Whitney Biennial, The Whitney Museum’s series The American Century, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), The Andy Warhol Museum, MoMA PS1, Camden Arts Center (London), Anthology Film Archives, Arsenal (Berlin), Participant Inc., The Kitchen, Performa09, Exit Art, White Box, and The New York, London and Rotterdam Film Festivals. Collaborations include the Alchemical Theater, the band Circle X, Voom HD Lab, and the expanded cinema groups kinoSonik, Arcane Project and currently Optipus.

Barbara Hammer (born 1939 Hollywood, CA) is a visual artist working primarily in film and video, having made over 80 moving image works in a career that spans 40 years. She is considered a pioneer of queer cinema. Her practice also includes performance, installation, photography, collage and writing. In 2013 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship for the film “Waking Up Together” on the poet Elizabeth Bishop. Her works “Optic Nerve” (1985) and “Endangered” (1988) were selected for the Whitney Museum of American Art Biennials (’85,’89,’93). Hammer’s work has appeared in retrospectives at The Museum of Modern Art, The Tate Modern, London, Jeu de Paume, Paris, and the Kunsthall Oslo. Her most recent films, Generations, 2010 (made with Gina Carducci), and Maya Deren’s Sink (2011), won the Teddy Award for Best Short Films at the 2011 Berlinale. Barbara Hammer lives and works in New York City and Kerhonkson, New York.

Ken Jacobs was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1933. He studied painting with Hans Hofmann in the mid-fifties and also began making films at that time. Jacobs created and directed The Millennium Film Workshop, N.Y.C. in 1966; started the Department of Cinema at S.U.N.Y. at Binghamton in 1969; and served as Professor of Cinema (1974-2000), Distinguished Professor of Cinema (2000) and Distinguished Prof. of Cinema Emeritus from 2002 to present. Jacobs’ films and videos have shown extensively in the US and abroad including recently at The Whitney Museum, NY; Museum of Moving Image, Queens, NY; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Institute Of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia; Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy; Berlin Film Festival, Berlin, Germany; Cinemathèque Francaise, Paris, France among many others. Jacobs has received numerous awards and grants including a J.S. Guggenheim Fellowship, Rockefeller Foundation Special Grant, Creative Capital Grant among others. His film “Tom, Tom, The Piper’s Son” was named to the National Film Registry, in 2007. Jacobs lives and works in New York City.

Rose Kallal is a NYC based visual and sound artist. Her performances include immersive multiple 16mm film loop projections that cycle at varying speeds to create a hypnotic nonlinear flow of repeating patterns and motifs created from a wide range of technical processes, such as traditional animation techniques, video synthesis and computer animation. She has collaborated with various artists including Mark Beasley, Victoria Keddie, Robert AA Lowe (Lichens), Joe Denardo (Growing), Mark O Pilkington, and has presented her work internationally at many venues, galleries and festivals that include Participant Inc, Pioneer Works, Ramiken Crucible, Lisa Cooley, MoMA PS1, Gavin Brown’s Enterprises at Passerby, Performa 09 & 15, Spike Island Art Centre, Bristol, UK, Bologna Museum of Modern Art, Italy, Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, UK, Lightcone, Paris, France, CTM festival, Berlin Germany, Unconscious Archives #17, London, UK, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, UK, The Power Plant Toronto, CA.

Born in the mid-70s in the Midwest, Andrew Lampert has created an extensive body of films, videos, photographs and performances since the late 1990s. His work is widely exhibited in a variety of contexts around the world at venues including: The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Getty Museum, The International Film Festival Rotterdam, The Toronto Film Festival, The New York Film Festival, The Viennalle, Mitchell Algus Gallery, MoMA PS1, The Kitchen, The Center for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, Visual Art Center at the University of Texas at Austin, The Images Festival, Issue Project Room, Pacific Film Archive, Aurora Picture Show, The Gene Siskel Film Center.

Bruce McClure graduated from architectural school in 1985. His projector performances have been included in many national and international events including among others the Whitney Biennial, Centre Georges Pompidou Paris, France, International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Image Forum, Toyko, Japan. 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. In early 2016, McClure’s work will be object of an exhibition at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in connection with a series of performances taking place at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Joel Schlemowitz is Brooklyn artist working with multiple mediums including celluloid film, installation and collage. In addition to his two solo shows at Microscope Gallery, Schlemowitz has previously exhibited at Courthouse Gallery at Anthology Film Archives, NY; KUMUKUMU Gallery, NY; Bound & Unbound Gallery, NY; Museum of Contemporary Cinema, Madrid; Ukrainian Institute of America, NY; and The Images Festival, Toronto, Canada. His films are widely screened at cinemas, festivals, and institutions including at The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum, Harvard Film Archives, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the New York Film Festival, Tribecca Film Festival, New York Underground Film Festival, The London Film Festival among many others. He has received grants from the Jerome Foundation and New York State Council on the Arts.