Tuesday October 19th, 7pm
Inter/Sect
Short films by Maria Niro
Followed by a discussion and Q&A with Micaela Martegani
Admission is free
Microscope presents “Inter/Sect,” an in-person screening of short experimental films created by Maria Niro where public space, surveillance, poetry, film, and shifting layers of consciousness converge.
The screening will include select scenes from Niro’s forthcoming film Krzysztof Wodiczko: The Art of Un-War, a documentary that chronicles the life and political work of the internationally acclaimed artist.
The event will conclude with a discussion / Q&A by curator and founder of More Art, Micaela Martegani who has produced a number of works by Krzysztof Wodiczko including Abraham Lincoln War Veteran Projection in NYC (2012) and LORO (Them) in Milan, Italy (2018). These works are featured in the The Art of Un-War.
This event is made possible through support from the City Artists Corps Grant administered by New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), in partnership with the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), with support from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME).
Please note: The event has a limited capacity of 30 on-site, with proof of vaccination for Covid-19 and masks required.
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Maria Niro is a New York City-based artist, and filmmaker whose work crosses several disciplines: film, video, photography and sound. Her moving image work includes long form documentary, and experimental shorts. Her recently completed film The Art of Un-War is a feature-length documentary exploring the political urban interventions of the avant-garde artist Krzysztof Wodiczko. Her experimental films weave together found sound, images, and poems, to create a collage of aural and visual prose. Niro’s films have screened and exhibited worldwide including at Berlin International Directors Lounge, European Media Art Festival in Germany, Whitechapel Gallery UK, WNDX Festival in Canada, in NYC at Anthology Film Archives, Exit Art Gallery, Millennium Film Workshop , Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and many others.
Micaela Martegani has over 25 years experience working in the field of modern and contemporary art as an art historian, independent curator, and art advisor. In 2004, Martegani founded the nonprofit organization More Art as a way to help make contemporary art more accessible to the general public. Since then, she has acted as Executive Director and Chief Curator for the organization, curating many community-based and socially-engaged art projects in Europe and in the United States with both renowned and emerging artists, including Krzysztof Wodiczko, Andres Serrano, Joan Jonas, Dread Scott, Kimsooja, Coco Fusco, Xaviera Simmons, Pablo Helguera, Anna Gaskell, Anthony Goicolea, Michael Joo, Tony Oursler, Michael Rakowitz, Tim Rollins, and Gary Simmons among others. With Krzysztof Wodiczko, Martegani has curated and produced numerous public interventions which include Abraham Lincoln War Veteran Projection, Union Square New York, 2012, Loro (Them), Milan Italy, 2019 and Ustedes (Them) at Governors Island, 2020.
PROGRAM:
Glitch Telemetry By Maria Niro, HD digital video, sound, 2010, 3 minutes 18 seconds
This visual parataxis is a digital re-appropriation of propaganda footage on war, technological innovation and mass destruction. The archival footage is arranged into diptychs and triptychs illustrating the mutation and growth of technology used for war. The film is reduced to its negative-like state, presenting an unembellished view into propaganda imagery. Soundscape by Maria Niro.
Sleeping Woman By Maria Niro, HD digital video, sound, 2013, 3 minutes 39 seconds
We slip into a tense, claustrophobic technological gaze, as the 13th and 21st centuries collide. Set entirely within a circle this work explores time, space and light while Inferno, Canto I by Dante Alighieri is recited as a woman awakens from her sleep. Starring Dariya Yalova. Soundscape by Maria Niro. Canto I from Dante Alighieri’s Inferno read by Cori Samuel.
In an Alien Land by Angela Christlieb and Maria Niro, HD digital video, sound, 2019, 7 minutes 41 seconds
Montages intersect revealing a woman’s journey from Mexico to New York City only to find the city in the midst of a political crisis. Starring Angela Christlieb. Soundscapes by Martin A. Smith, Eric Hubel, Aligs Kryz.
Station to Station By Maria Niro, HD Digital video, sound, 2018, 5 minutes 49 seconds
A woman journeys through Vienna’s underground, the camera following her reflection on the metal and glass surface in the environment as well as the surveillance camera watching them both. All cameras become intensely voyeuristic. The film is as much about watching as it is about being watched. Filmed in Vienna’s underground subway. Starring Anita Frech.
Krzysztof Wodiczko: The Art of Un-War (20 minutes select scenes from documentary) By Maria Niro, HD digital video, sound, 2020, 20 minutes
Internationally acclaimed artist Krzysztof Wodiczko challenges our complacency towards war, xenophobia and displacement with his unique projections onto monuments and facades. Starring Krzysztof Wodiczko, artist and activist Dread Scott, artist, writer, activist Gregory Sholette, media artist Ani Liu, art historian Rosalyn Deutsche, curator Micaela Martegani of More Art.
