Monday June 13, 7:30pm
Raha Raissnia
“Mneme 3” and “Nadir”
Performances with live sound by Panagiotis Mavridis and Dalius Naujo
artists in person
From “Mneme 3” (documentation of the work in progress, Raha Raissnia, 2016) – Image courtesy of the artist
Microscope is very pleased to present the debut of two film performances by Raha Raissnia, an artist working primarily with painting and live film performance. Raissnia’s latest performance “Nadir” is a 20-minute work for prepared 35mm projector, an apparatus used in her first film performance more than a decade ago, featuring a long, single 35mm filmstrip that has been collaged and hand-painted. Sound is performed live by Panagiotis Mavridis and Dalius Naujo using drums and homemade instruments.
The 30-minute “Mneme 3”, for four projectors (one 35mm slide and three 16mm film), is a new version of “Mneme”, an earlier work performed at The Drawing Center in New York earlier this year. This piece has been reconfigured in its structure to include additional hand-painted 16mm film strips and 35mm slides. In response to this new arrangement and added materials, Panagiotis Mavridis has changed the overall tonal arrangement of its soundtrack by adding percussive passages that will be performed by Dalius Naujo.
Both works are projected onto double hand made and painted screens by the artist.
Raha Raissnia’s work is currently on view at the gallery as part of the group exhibition “Off Screen”, continuing through June 20th.
Program:
“Mneme 3”, 2016
Performance for 4 projectors, hand-painted 16mm film & 35mm slides, hand-painted double screens, 30 minutes
Live sound performance by Panagiotis Mavridis and Dalius Naujo using drums and homemade instruments
“In Greek mythology Mneme is one of the three muses. She is memory personified. Her two sisters are Aoide, muse of song and music, and Melete, muse of study. When I finished making this work and showed it to Panagiotis, he said it made him think of the way our memory works. The work is made out of pre-existing materials that I cut, painted, and collaged together, making something entirely new. So, after reflecting a bit, I agreed with him that, yes, this is in fact analogous to the way our memory functions; Mneme puts together bits and pieces from the past and forms new meaning in the present.” – Raha Raissnia
“Nadir”, 2016
Performance for one prepared 35mm projector, painted 35mm film, hand-painted double screens, 20 minutes
Live sound performance by Panagiotis Mavridis and Dalius Naujo using drums and home made instruments
“This piece consists of a long strip of 35mm hand painted collage film that I hand feed and manipulate through an old 35mm slide projector. The imagery is derived from a series of still photographs I have recently taken in my studio. The basic structural elements: light, lens, film and screen are all here directly manipulated by hand. It is a reductive piece that is visceral and tactile, expressing an emotional response to the human condition.” – Raha Raissnia
general admission $8
students with ID and Members $6
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Raha Raissnia (b.1968 Tehran, Iran) creates complex works which combine painting, film and drawing. Much of her work is focused on exploring the intersection of these different mediums and how each informs the other in terms of their materiality and their respective processes of making. Raissnia lives and works in Brooklyn and is represented by Miguel Abreu Gallery in New York.
Panagiotis Mavridis (b. 1980, Athens, Greece ) works with sculpture, drawing and sound. In recent years he has been involved in designing and making musical instruments that combine electronic and acoustic principles.
Dalius Naujo (Naujokaitis) (b. Vilnius, Lithuania) finds music everywhere, from the sounds of nature to the hum of cities. And in his hands, very diverse objects – dishes, handrails, saws – turn into musical instruments. Naujokaitis values spontaneous music making very highly, participating with great passion in various performances, including many initiated by him. He has played and recorded with a variety of New York bands including Kenny Wolleson’s Himalayas and Wollesonics, Art Baron, Butch Morris, Joey Barron, Briggan Krauss, Jeff Ballard, Brazilian Girls, Tim Keiper, Jonathon Haffner, Otomo Yoshihide, Rocco John Group, and On Davis’ Cartoon Satellite among many others. Naujo, who has performed at Microscope Gallery in numerous occasions, started his musical career in Lithuania and regularly returns for various projects.
From “Mneme 3” (Raha Raissnia, 2016) – Image courtesy of the artist
From “Nadir” (Raha Raissnia, 2016) – Image courtesy of the artist
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Microscope Gallery Events Series 2016 is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC).
With the underwriting support of the Robert D. Bielecki Foundation.
