So Many Fortresses
After militants burn down, elites revolt, and the revolution is digitized, stuttering one stunned word after another in a hapless chain is known as freestyling. This video is our way of standing in the need of Adam Pendleton's "BAND," which The Kitchen served up last year, and which was strong enough stuff to send Chris Hosea to the New Museum's observation deck to stammer out the audio track, which has been slowed down but not otherwise altered. Lyric statement, imagistic mystery, uncanny archival footage, misspoken words, amateur video, historic documentary, confusion, boredom, anguish, and love combine and combust as images harmonize and clash.
So Many Fortresses (2011)
Difficult Mountain
Difficult Mountain is a set of nine videos projected alongside the live performance of a mass by Arvo Part and a choir piece by Gorecki. Inspired by moments in nature and Tony Alamo's quest to overcome life's unseen changes, the images bear witness to a solstice of great distances. Difficult Mountain is presented in familiar forms of air, earth, water, and ice. A ceremony of sinking snow and bright skies, bleached for this occasion, will mark the last winter sleep. A great volcano bursts in silence, and then we have landed to quote contemporary poet Zheng Chouyu: "Forget it, this is the speed of life. This speed is tranquility."
Difficult Mountain (2011)
Swen Guo Juan
To move in one direction, take the opposite way. This is the sound of a year’s worth of dust collected in small neighborhood in Kunming, China.
Swen Guo Juan (2010)
Things That Accord in Tone Vibrate Together
This is a compilation of recorded and reenacted sounds from an old house where I stayed in the ancient city of Dali, China, otherwise known as a "fairyland under the clouds. " Dali people spoke of 1,000 years ago, a few hundred years ago, and last month all in one sentence.I stayed in my friend’s old house in Dali. The nights would be full of loud thumps and book-flipping of inexplicable origin. As I asked the locals about these occurrences, they simply told me that the sounds were stuck in another time – energy from the past or the future. Apparently, this was quite common in Dali’s older homes
Things That Accord in Tone Vibrate Together (2010)
What Can We Do in Florida?
In a bright palette of anxious energy, a 7-foot latex Peanut man "What Can We Do in Florida" is a video, movement, and musical performance based on the gestures of Mr. Peanut, who hops to the rhythm of humidity and decay in subtropical Miami. The piece reveals life's unseen predators as we become highly mesmerized and hypnotized by terrible things. The vocal performance is a collection of found memories and record conversations from hotel holidays in Florida.
What Can We Do in Florida? (2010)
"Platypus," They Said
"Platypus," They Said, performed by The Meanwhile, a New York based contemporary music ensemble that experiment with familiar harmonic language and unexpected combinations of instruments. The platypus is a venomous animal that finds its prey with electrolocation, the ability to sense electric fields. The title of the piece is derived from Duras' play, "Destroy, She Said," about the interactions of three strangers staying in an empty hotel amongst the possible chaos of war.
"Platypus," They Said (2010)
Forty-two Suns Rise
A tale of lust, revenge and patience, adapted from Akinari Uneda's Kibitsu no kama. Performed by: Amelia Lukas (flutes), Asami Tamura (voice, koto).
Forty-two Suns Rise (2009)
You Can Take My Breath Away
Saturated with sounds recorded from primal scream therapy sessions, a lone dog ends his travels through Siberia -- only to find his other self running back to the beginning. Electronic soundscape composed by Juan Calderon.
You Can Take My Breath Away (2009)
And There Were Two: Diary of a Roadkill Eater
Diary of a Roadkill Eater
And There Were Two: Diary of a Roadkill Eater (2008)
It Swims in Blue Holes
It Swims in Blue Holes explores the tradition of folklore and news with a memory about a tragedy at sea. This is a story about a journey home. With performances by Richard Steffen, Juan Carlos-Garcia, and Margaret Miller.
It Swims in Blue Holes (2008)
Il Show di Signore Betancourt
There is a 24 hour, non-stop, anxiety-ridden holiday commerical that is waiting for you in your foreign hotel room. The abusive host, "Signor Betancourt," asks the viewers to solve impossible math problems, going into a fit when the wrong answers are called in. Starring Stephen Betancourt as himself.
Il Show di Signore Betancourt (2008)
Glue Pain Ghost
Glue Pain Ghost is a subconscious elevation of beings and sounds that usually evade everyday perception. Projected from a popcorn maker are a phantom hopping lady, spontaneous combustions, and a colossal corpse-smelling flower, blooming in the dark. Accidental detections of hidden spirits refer to an ancient Japanese superstition that reflected images are trapped souls. Soundtrack recorded on site with found objects from a flooded pile of household goods in Kyoto. Music by Juan Calderon.
Glue Pain Ghost (2008)
Welcome, Silent Guest
People are highly mesmerized by terrible things. Welcome, Silent Guest exposes otherwise unseen predators by seeking found memories, wandering eccentrics, and discovering misplaced structures. Moments include passages from Scarab of Ra, a vintage Mac game, and Mother the Faustian poodle. Sound recorded in the Busway Flyer 34 on a Friday night from Miami to the Florida Keys. Electronic soundscape composed by Juan Calderon.
Welcome, Silent Guest (2008)
People Were Made to Disappear
Feels like seven minutes of your heart being pulled out of your throat. People Were Made to Disappear is full of harmful advice. The music, composed by the artist, is based on a nightmare about disappearing into a metal tunnel. Dreadful rushes are created by the artist’s fear of Joanne, the dogsitter and her mother’s prediction that Joanne will drown her one day.
People Were Made to Disappear (2006)
Thursday at Girdle of S.
Glenn White’s funeral reception. Irene appears.
Thursday at Girdle of S. (1999)
