April 2010 feature
Videoart from USA
selection curated by Alysse Stepanian (USA/Iran)
The curator’s statement
This compilation of videos by U.S. artists are as diverse as the memories and identities that fabricate the singularity of the concept of unity and nationhood of this country. Most of these videos were originally created for installations and share a monumental quality, as if to reflect the enduring attributes of the memories that make up one’s identity. Soyeon Jung, a Korean born American, draws a literal parallel between food consumption and the internalizing of her own experiences of moving between the two cultures. Lana Z. Caplan comments on human survival amid loss and destruction. Brian DeLevie and Isshaela Ingham reflect on childhood memories from the safe distance of a far away future. Chris Schiavo’s heroine’s active search for a unique sense of self contrasts with Brooks Williams and Ron Diorio’s central figures, who seem to have lost their internal battle. On the verge of making compromises, they struggle to negotiate their conflicting needs for individuality and belonging, as their socially driven desires dictate their beings. Iranian born Laleh Mehran combines “religion, science, and politics,” in complex works that find commonalities in territories that have claimed marked distinction through the filters of history. In a video by Michael Greathouse, a detached human head floats in the sea, its movement decipherable as it passes the only marker in the landscape, a lighthouse that may represent a flash of a memory that marks a person’s individuality. Joe Merrell depicts the drivers on a Los Angeles Highway; alienated in their automobiles, they all eventually vanish into a single point, perhaps symbolic of their myopic outlook toward life. And finally, David Montgomery depicts “a collective memory of growth,” allowing the combined synergy of technology and nature to break into a time lapse dance to music by the band, Sleeping People.
Selected artists
1- Lana Z. Caplan (Boston, Massachusetts):
“In ruins, we rebuild with memories buried in the
foundation” 2006; 10:46
2- Brian DeLevie in collaboration with Isshaela Ingham (Denver, Colorado): “Emanations” 2008; 9:57
3- Ron Diorio (Manhattan, New York):
“A season of wants”; 2008; 02:20
4- Michael Greathouse (Brooklyn, New York):
“in dreams” 2008; 2:18
5- Soyeon Jung (Milwaukee, Wisconsin):
“the Eater” ; 2006 – revised 2010; 9:27
6- Laleh Mehran (Colorado):
“The Xerces Society, Installment VII: From London to Marrakech”;
2007; 4:57
7- Joe Merrell (Los Angeles, California):
“Tomorrow Never Comes” 2009; 4:15
8- David Montgomery (Fernandina Beach, Florida):
“Grow Worm” 2008; 4:30
9- Christine Schiavo (Staten Island, New York): “Fear of the Saveloy Moon” 2007; 6:27
10- Brooks Williams (New York City):
“MEMORY FACE 1” 4:34
.