Sunday July 21, 7pm
MIDWASTE: Film & Video from the Rusted Corn Belt
curated by Lexie Stoia
works by Will Foster, Melissa Friedling, Pelham Johnston, Jim Kokai, Jodie Mack, Kon Pet Moon, Hunter Preston, Brandon Reichard, Liz Roberts, Lexie Stoia, and Scott Wolniak
admission $6 – artists in person
approximately 60 minutes
Still from Farmageddon (Liz Roberts, 1993) – image copyright and courtesy of the artist
Microscope Gallery is pleased to present MIDWASTE, an evening of film and video curated by Microscope’s own Lexie Stoia, an artist/curator from Ohio. For MIDWASTE, Stoia has selected works that embraced the ‘nowhere-ness’ of the Midwest and the creative liberation that comes out of surrendering to it. Included among the 60 minute program of works dating from the 1970s to the present are a film study on neon lights; an Iowa farm mud wrestling film; a hand-drawn animated video for the lo-fi band Times New Viking.
Some of the works in MIDWASTE have previously screened at international film festivals and museums including MoMA and the Wexner Center for the Arts; others never left the college classroom. Some are narrative; others rely on abstract imagery and sound design. But all are rooted in their time and place, the empty void between the coasts that is overlooked as a breeding ground for moving image experimentation.
PROGRAM
New Morning
Scott Wolniak, video, color, sound, 2001, 2:43 min
New Morning is a combination of documentary and music video. Following the collapse of the artist’s garage under extreme snow in January 2001, the damaged space was demolished and cleared, then rebuilt by a company called Danley Garage World. Music, by Amon Tobin and John Fahey respectively, was selected and cut with the video to add distinct, contrasting moods to the two phases of the piece. (http://scottwolniak.com/)
aux
Hunter Preston, video, color, sound, 2012, 4:24 min
A video exploring sound, video degradation, and distortion. The video was made with several VCRs and VHS tapes, TVs, a scanner, and a DSLR camera. (http://hunterpreston.com/)
d.a. levy: if i scratch, i write (excerpts)
Kon Pet Moon, film transfer to video, color, sound, 1984-2006, 8:00 min
Eight minutes of excerpts from the 105 min. feature documentary about the remarkable Cleveland poet d.a. levy. This film uses a conceptual “cut & paste”-like digital editing style to present interviews, artwork, locations, and other bits and pieces about levy’s intense life, times, and poetry. (http://www.konpetmoon.com/)
Signal: Part I
Jim Kokai, film transfer to video, black & white, sound, 1972, 3:21 min
Pulsating neon lights on the streets of Columbus.
Head in the Pickle Jar
Melissa Friedling, film, color, sound, 1995, 7:00 min
A woman who pickles fruits and vegetables also preserves herself. (http://melissafriedling.com)
Unsubscribe #1: Special Offer Inside
Jodie Mack, film transfer to video, color, sound, 2010, 4:30 min
A flurry of security envelopes casts spells on the screen, featuring cello by Christy LeMaster and Traci Jo Partin. (http://www.jodiemack.com/)
Farmageddon
Liz Roberts, film transfer to video, black & white, silent, 1993, 1:48 min
Iowa City every 4th of July there is a party at a farm called ‘The Abyss.’ Mud, bands, booze – the quintessential Midwaste at its most glorious nowhere-ness. (http://lizrobertszero.com/)
Yolk
Scott Wolniak, video, color, sound, 2009, 2:19 min
This optical experiment animates the mid-summer sun through hand-manipulated lens flare effects. Shifting the angle of the camera rhythmically, the refracted light is contained just within the nucleus, organically changing the shape at its core. By digitally blacking out the brightest point at the center of the composition, the spatial orientation of the image is complicated, thus abstracting the sun into a wiggly, biological organism.
Freeing the Foster
Will Foster, video, black & white, sound, 2001, 7:10 min
A man and his teakettle interact bizarrely in this blurry one-shot video. (http://www.youtube.com/user/willfosterhaze)
Times New Viking: No Room to Live
Brandon Reichard and Pelham Johnston, video, color, sound, 2011, 2:40 min
Each frame in this music video for the lo-fi band Times New Viking was printed from real video, then hand drawn, colored, or decorated and put back together. It contains nearly 3,000 individual frames, completed by around 40 artists from Columbus and elsewhere.
Cicatrix
Liz Roberts, film, black & white, sound, 1995, 10:08 min
A cicatrix is a scar left by the formation of new connective tissue over a healing sore or wound. A documentary investigating the intersection of media and reality; an exercise/exorcise in fighting off the victim stance.
And a special installation in the restroom:
Your Sanitation
Lexie Stoia, video/affected lighting, color, sound, 2013, 7:56 min loop
A bathroom installation that includes harsh yellow lighting and video “wallpaper” played on a tv/vcr combo. The video, made up of found footage, contains three movements: I. Douche Pastorale, II. In the Trenches, III. A Day at the Fair.
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Lexie Stoia’s works explore light and sound through sculpture and built environments. She was born and raised in Ohio, receiving a BA in music/audio recording technology from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Her sculpture has been exhibited throughout the country. She is currently a MFA candidate at the Columbus College of Art & Design where she teaches in the Media Arts department. (www.lexiestoia.com)
Still from aux (Hunter Preston, 2012) – image copyright and courtesy of the artist
