Alix Pearlstein "Talent"
On Stellar Rays
This event has ended.
The gallery is pleased to present two new videos by NY-based artist Alix Pearlstein, "Talent" and "Finale." Together the works explore the perimeters of the performance score, related shifts in subjective and objective perception, and the subtle difference between being, acting and performing. Both videos share the same set, a dance studio which doubles as a performance venue, and the same cast, comprised of 10 professional actors. "Talent" consists of a sharply structured and edited sequence of acts, actions and interactions among the actors, alternately suggesting a contest, audition, rehearsal, performance and shoot. The camera bisects the studio as it tracks laterally, back and forth along a white line on the floor, creating a physical and psychic division between cast and crew. Further complicating the composition is a mirrored wall behind the actors, reflecting and exposing the activity of the camera, crew and artist/director, while implicating them in the scene. This construct recalls aspects of two widely divergent, iconic works that premiered concurrently in 1975: Michael Bennett’s "A Chorus Line" and Dan Graham’s "Performance/Audience/Mirror."
"Finale" takes a decidedly more introspective mood. Shot at dusk, the studio windows reveal the sun setting behind the Manhattan skyline. A centrally positioned camera rotates continuously counter clockwise in the space. For the duration of a single long take, cast and crew refer and respond to actions from "Talent." They circulate freely throughout the space, alternately stepping in and out of their roles, as the structured acts of the preceding hours unravel.
[Image: Alix Pearlstein "Finale" (2009) (video still) video: HD 10:20 mins.]
Media
Schedule
from April 11, 2010 to May 23, 2010
Opening Reception on 2010-04-11 from 18:00 to 20:00