BAC Gallery Film/Video Screening

May 7, 2009

Nicholas Mohanna, Everything Is Not Ok (2008) video still, dvd-ntsc

DUMBO FIRST THURSDAY SCREENING
Thursday, May 7, 6:30-8pm
In conjunction with the exhibition, Clamoring to Become Visible, curated by Christine Spangler, BAC Gallery will screen a program of short videos by Brooklyn artists John James Anderson, Inge Hoonte, Jen May, Jennifer Mills, Nickolas Mohanna and Michelle Provenzano. The works being screened do not simply represent the visual use of text, but also reflect various other aspects of language as a whole, exploring themes such as communication, storytelling, or human interaction through body language. In addition to the conceptual works, Jennifer Mills and Jen May will each feature videos that document previous performance works involving the written word.

PROGRAM

Jennifer Mills
Scribe (2008) 3:50 min
This short video documents a 24 hour performance Mills did in October of 2008 in Brooklyn, NY. Creating a store front to look like an office, Mills typed her observations of the street for 24 hours, creating a 200 page manuscript of the experience. Quirky events on this quiet Brooklyn street, passing characters and a desperate struggle with the creative process are documented in the writings.

Letters (2008) 4:03 min
This text based video relays a secret message of frustration to the viewer who is willing to wait. Participants are encouraged to write down the letters as they come to uncover the artist's statement.

Michelle Provenzano
Sites for Singing (2001-2) 3:00 min
Sites for Singing documents the karaoke culture in Japan through writing and video stills of karaoke box interiors, storefront signage, lyric videos and singing participants in Kitakyushu, Japan.

John James Anderson
Platelet (2008) 1:22 min
This work is an homage to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and his account of the bombing of Dresden as depicted in Slaughterhouse V. The footage was pulled from several sources (recorded on Sept. 11, 2001) while collaborating with Randall Packer on the piece America's Grave.

Inge Hoonte
I'd Like To (2006) 3:03 min
I'd Like To... shows the attempt and failure of human interaction in daily life, ranging from subtle eye contact to a desire for more intimate contact with the strangers we pass everyday. 

Anything Is Inside Everything (2006) 9 min In Anything is Inside Everything, a collection of vignettes, Inge Hoonte's focus settles on chances to witness profundity within the mundane. Storytelling and one-sided conversation serve as verbal counterparts to a series of eccentric behaviors. Narrative fragments, thoughtful compositions and strange occurrences converge in a world witnessed by Hoonte's patient and persistent eye. Actors: Emily Anderson, Lilli Carr, Thea Miklowski, Leone Reeves, Sarah Thompson and Michelle Tupko.

Nickolas Mohanna
Everyone is Not Okay (2008)1:38 min
A tale of apprehension where a solutions are never fully conceived.

No Bones (2008) 1:49 min
Surreal moments of recognition and fading memory---akin to an irregular birth.

Jen May
Fix Everything/It's Hard (2006) 2:22 min
In Fix Everything/It's Hard, May takes the icon of Bob Dylan in the mid-sixties and inserts herself into his performance through the use of video projection. The two engage in a dialogue through the use of written words held up on signs, as well as the lyrics being sung.

ARTIST BIOS

John James Anderson is an emerging interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in Washington, DC. He splits his time teaching studio art and digital media courses between American University, George Mason University, George Washington University, the Corcoran College of Art and Design, and Prince George's Community College. Anderson has been awarded several grants from the DC Commission of the Arts and Humanities, and has shown at Transformer Gallery (DC) and the Arlington Arts Center (VA).

Inge Hoonte is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY. She has exhibited, performed, screened and aired work internationally at the Whitney Biennial 2008 through Neighborhood Public Radio and SAIC Radio, New York; Brooklyn Arts Council, and 3rd Ward, Brooklyn; Diaspora Vibe Gallery, Miami; 321 satellite show of Prospect.1, New Orleans; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, A+D Gallery, MessHall, WLUW and NPR radio, Chicago; Neighborhood Public Radio at Southern Exposure, San Francisco; Saskatchewan Communications Network, Canada; Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland; Consortium, Amsterdam, TENT, Rotterdam, Cinema Plaza Futura, Eindhoven and Lux Cinemarinburg, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Hoonte received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, with a BFA in Visual Art and Public Space from the School of the Arts Arnhem, the Netherlands.

Jen May's art has been shown in group and two woman exhibitions throughout the United States and Japan. Her artwork primarily deals with recycling and rewriting histories while offering a feminist perspective and creating a space for change. Her work takes the form of books/zines, mixed-media installations, drawing, video and other mediums. She received a BFA in Sculpture with a minor in Art History from Pratt Institute. May is currently living and working in Brooklyn, NY with her cats Sadie and Spock.

Jennifer Mills works primarily in the mediums of video and performance, in order to examine the modern human condition and the struggles associated with the creative process. Studying opera from an early age, Mills retained a lyrical aesthetic and a love of performing. Invested in elements of the human condition that are prevalent in opera, Mills explores themes such as fear, sexuality, self-perception and loneliness. By utilizing familiarity and humor, Mills twists daily activities into a modern social critique, made contemporary through the use of commonplace objects as absurd accessories to the figure. Jennifer Mills lives and works in Brooklyn. She will be attending graduate school in the fall for her Masters in Studio Art at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Nickolas Mohanna works in a variety of media that explore themes/narratives of human circumstance in relation to a world that is erratic, mystical, overflowing, and seemingly indecipherable. He received his BA from San Francisco State University (2005) and MFA from University of California-Davis (2008). Mohanna currently lives and works in New York.

Michelle Provenzano has exhibited her drawings, watercolors and interactive-event based works both nationally and internationally in the Netherlands, Japan, Belgium and Ireland. Recently, she has shown some of her Slips drawings at the Stratosphere Gallery in Philadelphia. She received her MFA from Mason Gross School of Visual Arts at Rutgers. Provenzano lives in Jackson Heights and is a current Queens Council on the Arts Individual Artist Initiative recipient.