LIZ MAGIC LASER
The Digital
Face
VARIOUS SMALL
FIRES
Opening Saturday,
May 12th, 2012
6-8PM
VARIOUS SMALL FIRES is
pleased to present the
west coast debut of Liz
Magic Laser. Laser will
exhibit video works from
three recent
performances:
I Feel
Your Pain (a
Performa Commission,
Produced by Performa), Flight,
and The Digital
Face. Laser will
additionally present a
series of new collages
that explore the
relationship between the
performers, audience and
camera in these
performances.
I Feel Your Pain
(2011),
a Performa 11
Commission, was
performed, filmed and
edited in real-time in
the midst of an audience
in a movie theater.
Eight actors perform a
sequence of scenes that
trace the progression of
a relationship using
dialogue adapted from
political interviews
such as Glenn Beck,
Hillary Clinton, Sarah
Palin, Barack Obama, and
John Boehner. As the
actors performed,
selected footage from
three cinematographers
was projected onto the
screen in a continuous
live-feed with Laser
acting as real time
editor. Drawing on the
Soviet agitprop model of
a living newspaper, I
Feel Your Pain
examines how emotions
are used to establish
authenticity and garner
public support on
Americas political
stage.
The Digital Face
(2012),
which debuted last month
in New York at MoMA PS1,
isolates and examines
the studied body
language of politicians.
Laser works with dancers
Cori Kresge and Alan
Good to replicate the
gestural movement from
two State of the Union
addresses: President
Barack Obama in 2012 and
President George H. W.
Bush in 1990 speech,
which Laser claims is
the first televised
State of the Union
address featuring
gesticulating hands. The
two performers juxtapose
distinct historical
moments to highlight the
evolution of the
politicians
performance. The title,
The Digital Face,
references the ideas of
François Delsarte who
developed oratorical
theories and exercises
in the early 19th
century. In Delsartes
vocabulary, digital
refers to fingers.
Flight
(2011),
performed in Times
Square and MoMA PS1,
features six actors
performing chase scenes
that utilize stairs from
films including Vertigo,
American Psycho and
28 Days Later. The
twenty-three scenes are
collaged and re-staged
in the middle of a live
audience seated on a
grand staircase. The
video adapts
cinematography from the
original films to
present a fast-paced
series of slippages
where villains become
victims and witnesses
become perpetrators. Flight
traces the
historical arc of the
staircase in cinema as
it shifted from an arena
of revolutionary
struggle in Battleship
Potemkin to the
site of private trauma
in films like The
Shining.
Laser lives and works in
New York City. Her work
has been reviewed by The
New York Times, ArtForum,
Modern Painters,
The New Yorker, Frieze,
Art Review, and Art
in America among
other major
publications. Laser has
recently exhibited at
the Ljubljana Biennial,
The Studio Museum in
Harlem, and The Pace
Gallery. She has had
solo exhibitions at
Derek Eller Gallery in
New York and has an
upcoming exhibition at
Malmö Konsthall, Sweden.
Laser is a graduate of
the Columbia University
MFA program, Whitney
Independent Study
Program, and Skowhegan
School of Painting and
Sculpture. Liz Magic
Laser is her real name
from birth.
VARIOUS SMALL FIRES is
located at 1212 Abbot
Kinney Boulevard in
Venice, California.
Hours are Wednesday
Saturday from 12pm-6pm.
For further press
information or visuals,
please contact the
gallery at 310.426.8040
or visit www.vsf.la.
CREDITS:
I Feel Your
Pain features
actors Lynn Berg, Audrey
Crabtree, Ray Field,
Annie Fox, Kathryn
Grody, Rafael Jordan,
Liz Micek, and Ryan
Shams. The video was
made with producer David
Guinan and
cinematographers Alex
Hadjiloukas, Collin
Kornfeind and Matthew
Nauser of Polemic Media;
costume stylist: Felicia
Garcia-Rivera; still
photographer Yola
Monakhov; technical
crew: Will Chu, Brandon
Polanco, Irwin Seow and
Tristan Shepherd. The
script includes
editorial contributions
from Scott Indrisek,
Wendy Osserman, Jess
Wilcox and Tom Williams.
Co-presented by the
School of Visual Arts
Visual and Critical
Studies and BFA Fine
Arts Departments.
Supported by Performa
Curators Circle member
Joanne Cassullo/Dorothea
Leonhardt Fund, Esther
Kim Varet and Joseph
Varet, Communities
Foundation of Texas, The
Andy Warhol Foundation
for the Visual Arts,
National Endowment for
the Arts, and The
Dedalus Foundation. Flight
features actors Nic
Grelli, Elizabeth Hodur,
Liz Micek,
Michael Wiener, Lia
Woertendyke and Max
Woertendyke. The video
was produced with David
Guinan of Polemic Media.
The performance was
sponsored by Times
Square Alliance and the
Franklin Furnace Fund
for Performance Art.
Date:
From 12-May-12 (All day) through 12-Jun-12 (All day)Location:
VARIOUS SMALL FIRES 1212 Abbot Kinney Boulevard Venice, CaliforniaContact:
Visual ArtsInfo:
For further information regarding this event, please contact Visual Arts by sending email to visualarts@columbia.edu .Related
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Columbia University School of the Arts offers MFA degrees in Film, Theatre Arts, Visual Arts, and Writing, an MA degree in Film Studies, a joint JD/MFA degree in Theatre Management & Producing, and a PhD degree in Theatre History, Literature, and Theory.
Columbia University School of the Arts offers MFA degrees in Film, Theatre Arts, Visual Arts, and Writing, an MA degree in Film Studies, a joint JD/MFA degree in Theatre Management & Producing, and a PhD degree in Theatre History, Literature, and Theory.