Sara Magenheimer “False Alphabets”
Recess
This event has ended.
On March 19, Sara Magenheimer will begin work on False Alphabets, as part of Recess’s signature program, Session. Session invites artists to use Recess’s public space as studio, exhibition venue and grounds for experimentation.
Over the course of her Session, Magenheimer will construct sculptural sets composed of photographs, objects, and film equipment that will become the backdrop for a new video. The script for the video, written by Magenheimer, continues the artist’s interest in voice, and employs cinematic tropes that conflate embodied language and location.
The script will evoke the role of “The Radio DJ” epitomized by characters like Mister Señor Love Daddy in Do The Right Thing and DJ Stevie Wayne in The Fog. These figures act as the omnipotent narrators of their films as well as create diegetic soundtracks to their cinematic worlds. Simultaneously addressing the movie going audience, the other characters, and their communities, their music is embodied rather than a superficial add-on for the viewer’s emotional manipulation.
Collaborating artists Eleanor Friedberger (Fiery Furnaces), Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), Free Paint (Magenheimer and Saunier) and more will perform the music for and act as narrators in this video. Performers will make mixes that involve narration and music. These mixes will function as a soundtrack for the video. Recess audience may stream these mixes online and will be invited to participate as “the listening public” on open-set days of filming.
The video and performances explore the limit of the necessary, functional dislocation between speech and physical body, attempting to bring language back to the body through techniques drawn from punk/Dada humor, absurdity, music and participation. Films featuring radio DJs will be screened throughout False Alphabets.
Sara Magenheimer is an artist based in New York City. Recent exhibitions include Interstate Projects, 247365 Gallery, Cleopatra’s, Brooklyn, Chapter NY, and Document, Chicago. Recent screenings include The Ann Arbor Film Festival, MI; Images Festival, Toronto; The New York Film Festival, The Kitchen, New York, Brooklyn Academy of Music; MOMA, Portland, OR; The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland; and Meet Factory, Prague, Czech Republic. Since 2012 she has performed at Recess, MOMA P.S.1, Issue Project Room, Canada Gallery, and the Performa 13 Biennial. Her collaborative project, Bloopers, received commissions from Triple Canopy and EMPAC, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She was the recipient of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Grant.
Film screenings: March 26, 6-8pm
Free Paint performs: April 3, 6pm-8
Film screenings: April 9, 6-8pm
Eleanor Friedberger performs: April 18, 6-8pm
Media
Schedule
from March 19, 2015 to April 25, 2015