Phillip Stearns at the Big Screen Project

Posted by / May 2nd, 2011 / No responses

As part of LISA’s partnership with the Big Screen Project, we will be showing excerpts from some of Phil Stearns‘ works during the month of May on the Big Screen at the Eventi Hotel at 30th and 6th in Manhattan.  We are excited that Phil is working with us for this project!

Phil’s bio as of March 25th 2010:

Phillip Stearns’s work lies at the intersection of art, philosophy, and science, drawing upon a variety of disciplines including installation, audio-video works, circuit sculpture, writing, performance art and musical composition. The driving force motivating his practice comes from an oscillation between an intense fascination with technological objects and a deep skepticism towards modern applications of technology, especially in the creation of closed circuits of production/consumption.

He has exhibited internationally at electronics arts festivals, museums, and galleries including: Harvestworks [2010 NYC]; Gli.tc/H [2010 Chicago, IL]; Festival De Arte Digital (FAD) [2010 Belo Horizonte, Brazil]; FILE [2009 Sao Paulo, Brazil]; NIME [2009 Pittsburgh, PA]; Filmer La Musique [2009 Paris, France]; FONLAD [2009 Coimbra, Portugal]; Torrance Art Museum [2008, 2007 Los Angeles, CA]; Optica Film Festival [2008 Gijon, Spain].  He has participated in residencies at Museums Quartier (Vienna 2010), STEIM (Amsterdam 2007), Experimental Television Center (NY 2009), Harvestworks (NY 2010), and is the current AIRTime Fellow at Free103Point9 for the 2010-2011 cycle.

Phil notes:

These four were examples of various styles and approaches within my generally abstract video making practice.  We could progress through them from “more broken” to “less broken”.
Here are the pieces that will be shown:

Ouroboros V [excerpt] 3:00
2005
Ouroboros V is a music video project uniting mixer feedback and 8-bit, glitched video processing.  The outputs of an audio mixing console were connected to its inputs and the resulting feedback was manipulated, creating an interactive musical instrument.  The audio recording of an improvisation using this “no-input mixing board” was processed using a modified Texas Instruments TI99/4a home computer (c 1981), producing dynamic glitched video in response to the music.

Apeiron|Peras X [excerpt] 3:00
2010
Apeiron | Peras is a series of videographics and sound compositions created using a custom built video synthesizer connected in generative feedback paths. Intense audio-video synesthesia is produced by sonifying and visualizing raw electronic signals as directly as possible, creating an intricately intertwined relationship between what is heard and what is seen as sound and image take turns leading and following each other in a perpetual dance. Each work follows an improvised trajectory, navigating the sonic and visual landscape produced by folding electronic signals inwards upon themselves. Apeiron|Peras X is the result of a process of seeking balance between exerting expressive control over an otherwise raw electronic signal and letting the wild, unpredictable current follow its own path.

Lament II: Sand and Silt [excerpt] 3:00
2009
The Lament series is centered around the relation ship between society and the environment, drawing upon our connection to the earth through astronomically driven biological cycles.  Material for Lament II was derived from the interactions of sine tones oscillating across the spectrum of physical perception from motion, to sound and finally light.  The sinusoidal waveform signifies a pure cyclical process, one that is intimately linked to the revolution of planets, their orbit about the sun, the changing of tides, and the topology of water in motion.  The Lament series stems from a meditation on the eco-destructive powers of mature global capitalism, and a loss of innocence symbolized by the polluting of our aquatic ecosystems.

Analog 2: Traces (silent) 3:00
2006
Analog 2: Traces (silent) is the second part of a two-part study of sound visualization using analog sound sources and video graphics technologies.  Four tones control the X, Y, Z position and rotational perspective about a single dot.  As the frequency and shape of the waveforms of the tones changes, the images produced by the traces left by the dot shift and morph in organic and cyclical patterns.

May’s Leaders in Software and Art choices (a 40-min. loop that plays three times through in a two hour period), including works by Phillip Stearns, Erik Sanner, Deborah Johnson and Blake Carrington, will show on the Big Screen at the following times:

5/10- 9-11AM
5/12- 12-2PM, 8-10PM
5/24 9-11AM
5/26- 12-2PM, 8-10PM 6-8PM