Plus de Deux/Pas de Deux

David Frankovich's "Plus de Deux" is wonderful on the small screen, but seen as it was intended, projected in large format in a gallery setting, it is a sublime, serene and hypnotic contemplation on the human form. Taking his inspiration from Norman McLaren's 1969 classic short film, Pas De Deux, Frankovich has used digital compression artifacts and datamoshing to open up possibilities for representation. Bodies become increasingly abstracted and genders indistinguishable. All that remains is form, colour and movement.

Frankovich is an emerging film maker, and a recent graduate of York University's Experimental Film program. Norman McLaren (1914-1987) was Scottish-born animator and experimental film director, who, during his years at Canada's National Film Board, produced many award winning, internationally recognized short films. He was a pioneer in a number of areas of animation, including drawn on film animation, visual music, abstract film, pixilation and graphical sound...all long before the advent of digital processes.  Among his many honours and prizes (an Oscar, Silver Bear, BAFTA, CC, QC....), he was awarded an honorary doctorate from York University in 1972. It is wonderful to see that his work continues to be an inspiration to young film makers at York University and beyond. Visit the NFB's fabulous website to learn more.

Opening reception, with David Frankovich in attendance, from 7:30 to 9 this evening, May 5, 2011, at KWT Contemporary.

Frankovich and Cronenberg: Opening Thurs. May 5, 2011

KWT Contemporary is pleased to present two exhibitions in association with the

Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival

 

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday May 5, 2011 from 7:30 - 9 p.m.

David Frankovich: Plus de Deux 

KWT Contemporary is very pleased to announce our first presentation of time-based work, as we continue to unroll our new curatorial mission following our re-launch in February.

Starting Thursday, May 5, and running through to May 28th, KWT Contemporary will mount a continuous screening David Frankovich's remarkably beautiful 13 minute single channel video, "Plus de Deux". Frankovich, a very talented young experimental film maker, is a recent  graduate of the Experimental Film program at York University. "Plus de Deux" is inspired by, and a tribute to, Norman MacLaren's classic short film, "Pas de Deux,".

Frankovich has used digital compression artifacts to open up possibilities for representation. A technique called "datamoshing" is used to edit the video, which allows for the composition of one shot to be carried over to the next, and transformed by that shot's movement.  The image becomes unstable and littered with digital artifacts and traces of previous shots. Colours are swept across the frame by the dancers' movements, like the stroke of a paintbrush, and bleed into one another. The dancers' bodies themselves become transformed, and gender becomes unstable as they transition between male and female forms. A rigid gender binary gives way to a fluid spectrum of possibilities, lying just beyond the represented. The dancers' bodies become increasingly abstracted. All that remains is form, colour and movement.

The film will be available for purchase as a special signed and numbered DVD, edition of 10.
  

Preview the video here.

Also included in the exhibition are archival pigment prints, (selected stills from the video, edition of 5 each, image size 47" x 20"). Printed on fine art paper, these prints have a dynamic and painterly quality.  Figures are captured mid-transition, in between states of maleness and femaleness, in a state of motion between two states of rest. In contrast to the video, in which these moments are fleeting, as prints, they become frozen in time. Consequently, our attention becomes drawn away from the figure as male or female, towards gender as a field or landscape through which these bodies move.

Caitlin Cronenberg "RED: Selections from the New York Times Canadian Archive"

Christopher Bratty, co-founder of TOROmagazine.com and Black Angus Media, purchased the New York Times Canadian Archive with a goal of both preserving this remarkable historical record in it's intact form, but also to use as a jumping-off point for an ongoing artistic project. It is Bratty's intention to invite Canadian artists to select images from the Archive and to provide their own unique interpretations of this historical record. Emerging photographer Caitlin Cronenberg is the first artist to have been invited by Bratty to participate in this multi-year project.

Caitlin Cronenberg's "RED" features interventions and re-imaginings of eight images selected from the New York Times Canadian Photography Archive. Using digital alterations, salvaged barnwood frames, and remote-controlled lightboxes, Cronenberg has produced a dramatic and cinematic narrative, resulting in a succession of revealing glimpses into how Americans have historically viewed Canadian culture, and how Canadians in turn view themselves. Dating back to 1910, the Archive consists of 24,000 images taken by New York Times photographers forming an invaluable cultural record that traces the evolution of Canada as a nation.

In addition to Cronenberg's interventions, framed reproductions of the 8 original images she selected from the Archive will be on display and available for purchase.