Constructed Video

Exhibition: Saturday November 12th to Sunday December 18th

Boston Cyberarts is pleased to present an exhibition of three artists who use video as a reflective process, examining more closely distinct corners of the world. The video art of the present has become a few minutes, even seconds, of a YouTube burst of story telling sensation. These three artists are all going in the opposite direction, constructing sculptural space using multiple screens coupled with powerful imagery; devoid of story telling. Working with image and audio as sculptural elements, they construct a new model for the moving image.

Georgie Friedman’s videos, Water Study: Sekonyer River, Kalimantan,Indonesia, No. 1 & No. 2, re-frame natural elements by concentrating on the movement, light, color, and reflections in the water. She draws attention to the meditative properties inherent in the natural world. The videos skirt the literal, and become smooth, flowing visual abstractions. Filmed on the Sekonyer River in Kalimantan (the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo), the Southern Hemisphere water swirls and circles in a mesmerizingly elegant manner. The two videos will run simultaneously, being projected as a two-channel piece on to the front wall of the gallery.

Robin Mandel’s Siren explores a paradox of motion and stillness by capturing the gesture of song. Using specialized devices that spin the projectors, three video clips of a vocalist play simultaneously on three custom screens. The clips cycle in and out of phase, forming contrasting combinations of notes: harmonies and disharmonies, solos, duets, and trios. Each sung note coincides with a period of stability in the spinning video. There are rare moments when all three voices are singing, all three video images are momentarily stable, and everything aligns for at most one breath’s duration. These moments build, dissolve, and reform again in new combinations.

Andrew Neumann’s ongoing project, Craneology(x6),  is presented here as a six screen version.  Capturing images via time -lapse video for the past five years out of one specific window, the piece documents the development of a specific neighborhood from a single point of view. Shooting from his window, Neumann explains, “Although the camera may be on all day long, it’s only capturing a very condensed piece of time, as it’s shooting a single frame at a pre-determined interval. Time is condensed, weather patterns become clouds dances. On multiple screens, some vertical and some horizontal, the cranes become prehistoric creatures lifting steel into the air.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Georgie Friedman is an interdisciplinary artist whose projects include large-scale video installations, single and multi-channel videos and several photographic series. She is interested in our psychological and societal relationships to mild and severe natural phenomena. She investigates a wide range of powerful atmospheric and oceanic conditions, and is fascinated by the power of these natural elements in relationship to human fragility. She utilizes photography, video, sound, installation, engineering and the physics of light, all in order to create new experiences for viewers.

She has lived, worked and exhibited throughout the United States. Her speaking engagements and exhibitions include museums, universities, galleries, film screenings and public art installations. She earned her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in conjunction with Tufts University and her BA from UC, Santa Cruz. Professionally, she has taught at Massachusetts College of Art, Boston College, and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, among other institutions. She was named a “Rising star” by The Boston Globe and “One of the most exciting new-media artists in the region,” by The Boston Phoenix.

Robin Mandel is an artist working in sculpture, photography, and installation. Across these media, his work explores the dematerializing effects of time, light, and motion. His exhibition venues include the deCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA, Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT, Currents 2016 in Santa Fe,NM, the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, MI, and the Wassaic Project in New York.

He has also exhibited in Portland (Maine), Boston, Montreal, Venice, Barcelona, and Jerusalem. He has held residencies at the MacDowell Colony, the Fine Arts Work Center, and Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and has been awarded grants from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts and the St. Botolph ClubFoundation in Boston. His teaching credits include the Rhode Island School of Design, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Maine College of Art, and Colby College. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He lives in western Massachusetts.

Andrew Neumann is an artist who works in a variety of media, including sculpture, film and video installation, and electronic/interactive music. In 2004 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship. He has had solo shows at bitforms Gallery in Seoul, Korea, the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA, bitforms Gallery, NYC, Center for Photography at Woodstock, and solo shows for the Boston Cyberarts Festival. His music is available on Sublingual Records. His videos have been featured on PBS, The Worldwide Video Festival, Artist Space, and elsewhere. He has had solo music/video performances at Experimental Intermedia and Roulette, Issue Project Room, and Roulette.

During 2001 he was an Artist in Residence at the iEAR Studio at Rensalear Polytech Institute and at the Visual Studies Workshop. He has also had residencies at The MacDowell Colony , YADDO , Anderson Ranch, Ucross Foundation, Steim , Atlantic Center for the Arts, Art/OMI, and the Experimental Television Center. In 2003 he was a Finalist in Sculpture/Installation from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. He was a New England Film/Video Finalist in video in 1988 and a received a Fellowship in video in 1985. He has studios in Boston and Brooklyn.