PARSONS HALL PROJECT SPACE / 2008-2010

Monday, September 20, 2010

MOBILE GEOGRAPHY PERFORMANCE SERIES: JORDAN BIREN

ALL THAT PASSES BEFORE YOU, ALREADY IN RUIN

With All That Passes Before You, Already In Ruin, Jordan Biren brings a performative incursion to his long-standing ordeal in video. Through live recitation of text the physicality of words is loosed upon an intimate expanse of high-definition imagery and sound. A rich, temporal presence ensues of transient landscapes, time, and characters advancing as spectres in the shadows of glistening cinematic moments. Words—displaced from the image—move as ghostly figures through the illusory promise of narrative towards a question of alterity. In his ongoing performances of All That Passes Before You, Already In Ruin, Biren abandons suggestions of cinematic sense for a resonance carried on the frequency of bodily words.

The 1st in a new series of (Mobile geography performances) "All That Passes Before You, Already In Ruin" will be performed live at Parsons Hall Project Space, Thursday May 20th - 8pm (free)

Jordan Biren

Is an artist for whom video is the poetic rehearsal of his artistic endeavor.
His work has long pondered meaning as a migration behind the illusory promise of narrative utterance. His is work of a melancholic tension built around narrative dissolutions in the chasms of granular image, text, and sound. Narrative, rather, has inhered in his video as a vaporous impossibility against which the work is directed. He seeks in this the more enigmatic holes of unexplained human experience—those breaches covered over, as if unsightly, by the image, sound, and textual impulses of an arbitrary existence. Of late, his work has approached an equivalence of film aesthetic against which notions of video define a new, hybrid form of narrative province.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

EXHIBITION FIVE - SPRING 2010

SPECULATION(ELATION)3:

VISIONS OF LIFE, LAND AND LETTERS

SPECULATION(ELATION)3:

VISIONS OF LIFE, LAND AND LETTERS

CURATED BY TORSTEN ZENAS BURNS

(SPECIAL THANKS TO: KARI GATZKE)

Picking up where S(E)2 left off we see Speculation(Elation)3 continue an exploration into a variety of simulated manifestations, mobile geographies, and pictorial fictions. The group show will include two Video loops by ETEAM and Noah Stout, Sculpture by Deborah Simon, Installations by Chris Nelson, Performance works by 23E Studios, Drawings by Charley Friedman, and a hybrid book project by Max Goldfarb & Matt Bua.

Dates: May 7th - 23rd 2010
Gallery hours: 12pm-5pm
(weekend hours and by special appointment)
Opening reception: Friday May 7th 6-10PM

Closing reception: Thursday May 20th 8-10pm

(Following a Mobile Geography video performance by Jordan Biren)

EXHIBITION ARTISTS:

Noah Stout
Charley Friedman
Deborah Simon
ETEAM
Max Goldfarb & Matt Bua
Chris Nelson
23E Studios

Noah Stout

Mantis + Auto - 5:00 - 2009 (Looped video)

Charley Friedman

Magic Rays - 2009 / graphite on paper

Powers - 2009 / gouche

Deborah Simon

Shelved Animals is an installation of various animals set on shelves and hanging from the ceiling, species mixed up and out of scale, like children’s toys forgotten and discarded. Some species will be highly endangered like the giant panda and others more common, like fur seals or raccoon. The animals, shown with no regard for eco-systems or taxonomy, are the fallout of man’s tendency to cherry pick what’s desirable and convenient and then quickly discarded it when it’s not. The confusion of scale and species seems to be exploding from the shelves along the walls with each species commanding the viewers’ attention in hopes of not being ignored and forgotten.

ETEAM

The Paradox of the 10 Acres Square

50:00 - 2006 - (Looped video) + prints

Dead Day, 2005, inkjet print, 61x100 cm

The Paradox of the 10 Acres Square - (2004-2006)

"10x1” starts off with the same premise as "1.1 Acre Flat Screen" - a winning bid for a real estate auction on ebay (“10 acres, high bid wins”). Trusting the regenerating power of the desert, we plan to conduct experiments with scale and proportion, position and growth. Through the winning bid and its consequences, we are already navigating through larger images, higher bills and less legal property information. The lot seems to be located in Northern Nevada near the Utah border, an area which was heavily used for military testing in the 60‚s. Using a similar approach as for the last piece we are taking the land as a reality background and a testing base for our virtual and conceptual explorations.
Max Goldfarb & Matt Bua

drawingbuilding.org

Visionary Drawing Building (2009), a publication organized and produced by Bua and Max Goldfarb with support from The Joan Mitchell Foundation. This expansive collection of drawings -- which originated with an invitation to a wide range of participants, including established and emerging artist and architects as well as those presenting ideas for the first time -- represents unconstrained ideas about building structures.

OBJECT - The project seeks to represent a multiplicity in concept and vision, fantasy and innovation. Originally produced in book format, the work was initially situated for display adjacent to an architectural incursion (by Matt Bua) into a museum, functioning as an independent, portable archive. For drawingbuilding.org, drawing is of primary interest, and can include notation or diagram as long as the format (information table) is maintained.
VISIONARY DRAWING BUILDING is concentrated on un-built (impossible or speculative) structures that exist on paper. This project began with an invitation to a wide range of participants, including artist, designers and architects of renown, as well as those presenting ideas for the first time. The archive will reveal an array of works that convey alternatives, byproducts, expansions or critiques of one’s environment: it will highlight many visions that exist outside of established channels of production, and conventions of design.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: VISIONARY DRAWINGS  
We are accepting drawing submissions that reflect the categories we have established under the broader theme of, ‘visionary drawings’. Newly submitted drawings will be periodically reviewed and added to the archive. Drawings can be made in any medium, and should convey a dwelling/structure/architectural concept.
CATEGORIES  Choose a category from the following list, or write in your category if it is not represented:  Adaptation/Re-use, Clandestine Space,  Critical Intervention, Fort, Interstitial Space, Medical/Healing Facility, Micro-community Spaces,  Mis-use, Mobile, Museum/Pavilion, Nature/Habitat,  Radical Lifestyle Housing, Reconstruction,  Survivalist Encampment, Techno-sustainable, Utilities, Worship, or Other.
Chris Nelson

“Reflecting Back” and “Between Space” (Installation / 2010)
In an installation created specifically for the Parsons Hall Project Space water drips from the ceiling into a shallow oval reflecting pool (28’ x 10’); while light reflects the waters movement back onto a parallel wall.

Water plays an important role in Holyoke, where its canals powered the many paper mills during the late 1800 and early 1900’s and still supplies electricity to the city. Today, water is also the main culprit that is destroying these old abandoned buildings, slowly rotting them away from the inside out. Their dark, dank interiors are like giant caverns with the echoing sounds of dripping water. The Parsons Project Space itself was riddled with leaking ceilings and puddles of water before being rescued by its current owners. The pool mirrors the ceiling where the water originates, creating a visual circle, while also miring the reflection of itself on the wall.

During the day, when the sun is at the right angle, reflections of canal water can be seen on the sides of the buildings and on their ceilings within. It becomes a dialog between this inseparable pair of canal and mill, blending together. This is some of the inspiration for both “Reflecting Back” (the interior installation) and “Between Space” (the exterior piece) where light is reflected off the water. With “Between Space”, this reflective quality is created at night by large theatrical lights (May 7th and 8th only) This piece is also a dialog between three buildings, The Canal Gallery and Studios, the Parson Project Space, and Paper City Studios. This trio is a corner stone of artistic endeavors within the city. Each one is strengthened by the other, creating of loose community of talent. The light symbolizes this bond while also linking these buildings back to the canal that separates them.
23E Studios / Portal 9: Carry-on Office

Ovarian Dystopia Quintet / The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

23E Studio's presents:

23 Entryways Into My Mind, Portal 9: When A Home Is Not A House - The 23E Studios Carry-on Office & Portable Morgellon in Conjunction with Parsons Hall Project Space Presents Open Auditions for the Films Touch and Melodrama

Open Casting Call:

23E Studios, in conjunction with Parsons Hall Project Space, is pleased to announce an open call for actors (and those who would like to act) on
Saturday May 22, 2010.

For one day a studio in Parsons Hall Project Space will be transformed into a film-studio – conducting business and shooting scenes for 23E Studios’ new film, Remembrance of Now. No previous acting experience is required – so please come join us. The studio will be open from 10am-6pm.

Shooting will happen throughout the day, as people show up. All actors will be given a share of the net income from the film. All profits from 23E Studios projects are shared equally amongst all participants.

Remembrance of Now is a series of readings of melodramatic scenes and monologues from theater, film and television. Actors will be asked to read these singly or in pairs.

23E Studios will be fresh from recording for both films in Copenhagen, Denmark and Berlin, Germany.

We hope to see you! Welcome!
For more information about the project please contact
Lee Pembleton, 23E Studios: info@23EStudios.com
23E Studios is a film production company founded as part of a 2008 installation at Fringe Exhibitions in Los Angeles, CA. It currently exists as a collaborative producing art films and installations worldwide. Its first installation, Disembody, was held-over in LA for an encore presentation due to popular demand. A documentary about that work was premiered in August, 2008. A director’s cut is currently in post-production. Their non-narrative film S/Z is currently in post-production, with a premier scheduled for May 1, 2010. Their noncontiguous sculpture garden, Earthbound Moon, will install its first artwork in September, 2010. Through 2011, Earthbound Moon is scheduled to install works in Cairo, Egypt; Chania, Greece; Baja, Mexico; Portland, US; San Francisco, US; and Texas, US.

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(LOCATED WITHIN 23E STUDIO'S PORTABLE OFFICE SPACE @ PARSONS HALL PROJECT SPACE)
Ovarian Dystopia Quintet presents:
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath was recorded in late January 2008, and is currently being mixed. It is not slated for general release. The album was improvised and recorded live in a one room studio. The guiding spirit for the mix is the novella by H. P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. The record will be featured on a listening station in the 23E Studios office.
Ovarian Dystopia Quintet is comprised of:
NOBU STOWE - (piano)
LEE PEMBLETON - (Sound)
TAHA BELAL - (Field Recordings)
JASON BIVINS - (Electric Guitar)
ROSS BONADONNA - (Alto Sax, Baritone Sax, Guitar, Nord, Percussion)

Saturday, April 3, 2010

EXHIBITION FOUR - WINTER 2009

Three Holyoke exhibition spaces:

The Storefront Project Room at 80 Race Street; The Parsons Hall Project Space at 360 Dwight Street; and the Taber Art Gallery at Holyoke Community College are pleased to present hand painted Ghanaian movie posters from the collection of Michelle Gilbert.

Curated by Amy Johnquest, Nancy Sachs and Kari Gatzke

In conjunction with the closing reception on Saturday Dec. 5, 7:00 - 10:00 PM, additional posters and a film will be exhibited next door at the Parsons Hall Project Space, 360 Dwight St., Holyoke. (413)-265-8321- holyokeresearch@verizon.net

SCREENING: HIGHWAY TO THE GRAVE

Duration: 01:33:08 / Language: English
Director: Teco Benson
Starring: Regina Askia, Jide Kosoko, Ejike Asiegbu, Tony Umez, Segun Arinze, Lanre Balogun

Starting in the 1980s, entrepreneurial operators traveled with video recorders and TV sets to rural Ghanaian villages. Creating makeshift movie houses, often in tents or open air cinemas, they showed violent and often bloodthirsty films on televisions run with generators. Though many were films from America and Asia, most of the posters seen in this exhibition were created to promote the Nigerian made films. Hand painted on the backs of flour sacks by local Ghanaian artists they combine elements of traditional African art and modernity. The artists, in their own styles, often painted these posters before seeing the film themselves. Sometimes they referenced images from the accompanying tape jackets to create these bold and often gruesome advertisements. Many of the images are purely from the artists imagination and may not appear in the film at all. The more shocking the poster, the more likely a show would sell seats. The canvases are tattered and faded from their use to promote the movie as it traveled from village to village. Some of the flour sacking labels bleed through to the front, and some have stitching or patches of odd cloth. This intriguing twist on form and function only adds to the beauty of this dying art.

Today mass- produced paper posters are replacing the hand-painted posters in Ghana. This exhibition offers a peek into that disappearing art form as well as an opportunity to purchase the work. Each poster will be available for sale for $350.00.

Michelle Gilbert teaches anthropology and art history at Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY. Since 1976 she has done fieldwork in an Akan kingdom of southern Ghana on art, religion and politics on which she has written many articles.

EXHIBITION THREE - FALL 2009

PARSONS HALL PROJECT SPACE
362 DWIGHT ST. HOLYOKE,MA
HHORRRAUTICA 4: (CRYPTO)
CURATED BY TORSTEN ZENAS BURNS
OCTOBER 10TH/11TH + 17TH/18TH 2009
GALLERY HOURS 12PM-5PM
OPENING: SATURDAY 7-11PM - OCTOBER 10TH
CLOSING RECEPTION:
SATURDAY 2-5PM - OCTOBER 24TH
GALLERY ARTISTS

JAMES FOTOPOULOS
KARI GATZKEVIROCODE THE SCULPTURE GROUPJASON ROBERT BELL ANTHONY DISCENZAREBECCA MIGDAL ANDREW ERDOS DARRIN MARTIN ANNE MCGUIRE MONICA PANZARINO
VIDEO / FILM ARTISTS
(45:00 LOOPING PROGRAM IN SCREENING ROOM)
CHRISTIAN K. BURNS + MASKATRONICA & FEMBOTICA
“WORKSHOP ONE (STELARC - SERIES)” – 3:00 / VIDEO / 2009

BEN RUSSELL
“TRYPPS #6 (MALOBI)” – 12:00 / 16MM / 2009

MATTHEW NEWMAN-LONG / MOUNT EMULT
“AND WHAT WE MOVE IS DEAD” 13:30 / 16MM / 2005
ANNE MCGUIRE + BODYBANKS
"WORKSHOP TWO (JAIME - SERIES)" 1:30 / VIDEO / 2009
URSULA BROOKBANK
“DCG.BR” - 10:00 / VIDEO / 2009
REBECCA MIGDAL
“ZOMBIE PUNK: THE CURTAIN FALLS” 5:00 / VIDEO / 2009

EXHIBITION TWO - SPRING 2009

PARSONS HALL PROJECT SPACE PRESENTS:
EVENT TWO - FRIDAY MAY 8TH 2009 9-10PM

OUTDOOR VIDEO / FILM SCREENING EVENT
(LOOPED BUILDING PROJECTION)
"SPECULATION(ELATION)2" - 2009
CURATED BY TORSTEN ZENAS BURNS
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
KARI GATZKE & PAPER CITY STUDIOS (PULP SCIENCE FICTION SHOW)

"SPECULATION(ELATION)2"

TELEMIOSIS

BY GEOFF BELL
I AM HEARING THE LAST BIRD
BY RYAN TEBO
21ST CENTURY MACHINES:A TECHNODRAMA FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
BY IVAN LOZANO
RED

BY ANDRES ZUNIGA
AS FAST AND FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE
BY LENKA CHLUDOVA
GERM THEORY
BY VIROCODE
SLIMECODE (IMPRINT)
BY THE FOUNDRY & COLLABORATOR
THE TWO BOYS
BY JASON LIVINGSTON
SANTALOPE & FRIENDS
BY ANDREW ERDOS
SONATA IN PRIMEVAL SOUNDS (EXCERPT)
BY ANDY LATIES & REBECCA MIGDAL & ERIC BLITZ

EXHIBITION ONE - FALL 2008

PARSONS HALL PROJECT SPACE
Place: 362 Dwight St, Holyoke, MA, 01040
Dates and Times:
Friday, Oct 10 - Open studios, Sound installations,
Video & film screenings (Projections looped) - 6 to 9PM
Saturday, Oct 11 - 12 to 10:30PM
Food/Art Sculptural performance event, 12 to 9:30PM
Opening night reception (SATURDAY) 6 to 9:00PM
Video & Film sit down screening event 9:30 to 10:30PM
Sunday, Oct 12 - Open studios, Sound installations,
Video & Film screenings(Projections looped) – 12 to 5PM

PERFORMANCE & INSTALLATION

SATURDAY 12-9:00PM

Michael O'Malley

"Andre, you forgot the fire"
A performance piece that begins with a recalling
of the cool, detachment of Carl Andre's brick pieces.
After laying out the brick in the rectangular form on the
ground, the bricks will be reconstituted into a wood fired
oven - two hours of pizza making and conversations will
ensue at which time the oven will be dismantled
- hot and layed out again - this time with the residue of
smoke and fire and maybe a bit of burnt cheese.

SOUND INSTALLATIONS

FRIDAY 6-9PM / SATURDAY 12-10:30PM / SUNDAY 12-5PM

CURATED BY EE MILLER

Kara Lynch
…Before the Storm, 77.17’’ audio loop
(study 02 :: Invisible :: Episode 12 :: Come Hell or High Water)
Invisible is an ongoing episodic, multidirectional, multimedia, narrative that speculates the black liberation parallel to eurotrash civilization in the conflux of public record and sci-fi.

Episode 12 :: Come Hell or High Water
Ida B Wells meets Katrina – mob rule or natural disaster. This is a meditation on exemplary violence and water’s redemptive properties.

Race Street window, Dwight Street planter :
EE Miller
In Time: Roll Calling, 9 and 18 minute audio loops
Dwight Street, embedded:
Xian Hawkins "Untitled"

PAINTINGS

FRIDAY 6-9PM / SATURDAY 12-10:30PM / SUNDAY 12-5PM

Xylor Jane - www.canadanewyork.com
Kari Gatzke - 362 Dwight St., Holyoke, MA

1. Kari Gatzke, Wood
Acrylic on Panel / 48 x 69”
2. Xylor Jane, Enter
Oil on Panel / 41 x 44” 2008
3. Kari Gatzke, Curtains
Acrylic on Panel / 48 x 69”
4. Xylor Jane, RNBWBS
Oil on Panel / 29 x 31” 2008
5. Kari Gatzke, Speaker Hole
Acrylic on Panel / 36 x 48”
6. Xylor Jane, Daybreak
Oil on Panel / 29 x 31” 2008

VIDEO & FILM CURATIONS

LOOPED PROJECTIONS FRIDAY 6-9PM / SATURDAY 12-9PM / SUNDAY 12-5PM
(SCREENING SATURDAY NIGHT AT 9:30PM)
SPECULATION(ELATION)1

CURATED BY TORSTEN ZENAS BURNS

RONG XIANG,(2008) CASPAR STRACKE
WAVE,WARBLE,WIPEOUT,(2008) MATT UNDERWOOD
LOOSE CONTROL,(2008) MONICA PANZARINO & NADINE SOBEL
ANYWAY,NOW WHERE WERE WE?,(1999) JIM SUPANICK
JOE DIMAGGIO 1,(1991) ANNE MCGUIRE
SCRATCH VIDEO (HOLYOKERESEARCH X3),(2007) CHARLENE RULE
BORDERLINE DISORDER (1-6),(2008) GABRIELLA MONROY
VIEWING #1, (2007) ANTHONY DISCENZA
MINI:MENTALS(X2),(2007-2008) DENISE IRIS
LOVE WAR WALLS CELEBRATION,(2007) ANDREW ERDOS
IT WAS DARK AS NIGHT IN SHADOWS,(2008) JORDAN BIREN
WALT WOBULON,(2007) CHRISTIAN K. BURNS
BL.SLP,(2008) URSULA BROOKBANK
LAUGHING DEATH,(2007) VIROCODE & TORSTEN ZENAS BURNS
"(PART THREE OF) THREE TALES",(2008) JIM SUPANICK