Some of the most astonishing art projects exist behind laboratory doors. This collection of video-curiosities, curated by filmmaker Rachel Mayeri, brings together work by artists and scientists in experiments with ebullient nanogears, tethered flies, and the ever-elusive idea of Reason. IT DID IT (Peter Brinson, 2000, 17 min.); SOFT SCIENCE "CINEMA OF ATTRACTIONS" (Joe Milutis and Rachel Mayeri, 2004, 4 min.); BUG GIRL (Su Rynard, 2003, 6 min.); RE-ANIMATION 3, 4 & 2 (Kaipo Newhouse, 2003, 2 min.); AMEISING 1 (Sean Dockray, 2003, 2 min.); STORIES FROM THE GENOME: AN ANIMATED HISTORY OF REPRODUCTION (Rachel Mayeri, 2003, 15 min.); I AM TODAY'S LESSON PLAN (Darrin Martin and Torsten Z. Burns, 2004, 11 min.); and THE BATS (Jim Trainor, 1998, 8 min). (www.soft-science.org) Co-presented with the Video Data Bank (www.vdb.org). BetaSP video.



OF A FEATHER
Thursday, February 9, 6:00 p.m.
Curator Cecelia Condit in person!
Of a Feather
1968-2005, Netherlands/USA, 57 min.

A bright spot in the long months before spring's winged migration, curators Cecelia Condit and Carl Bogner have collected bird films and videos from around the globe in a program at once swooping and earthbound, wild and caged, THE CANARIES (Jerome Hill, 1968, 4 min.); VOGELS (Gerben Kruk, 2003, 1 min.); DISPERSE (Paul Dickinson, 2004, 15 min.); WHY NOT A SPARROW (Cecelia Condit, 2002 - 2005, 12 min.); THE WALKING PIGEON (Guido van der Werve, 2001, 2 min.); CHICK RUNNING (Sam Easterson, 2004, 2 min.); PARROT SUITE #1(Anne Walsh, 2002, 5 min.); 9 IS A SECRET (Vanessa Renwick, 2002, 6 min.); OF A FEATHER (Rob Yeo, 2005, 10 min.). 16mm and miniDV.



A HEART AND OTHER SMALL SHAPES: JENNIFER REEDER VIDEOS 1995-2006
Thursday, February 16, 6:00 p.m.
Jennifer Reeder in person!
A Heart and Other Small Shapes: Jennifer Reeder Videos 1995 - 2006
Jennifer Reeder, 1995-2006, USA, 75 min.

Eleven years ago, School of the Art Institute of Chicago alum Jennifer Reeder took the art world by storm with her riot grrl super hero White Trash Girl. Since then, she has continued to mine the charged landscape of the profane with sublime portraits of adolescence, sexual desire, and the Midwest. Tonight's program features the Chicago premiere of her latest video, A HEART AND OTHER SMALL SHAPES (2006, 30 min.) and a mini-retrospective of her work to date, including: LULLABY (1999, 13 min.); THE DEVIL INSIDE (1995, 8 min.); NEVERMIND (1999, 18 min.); and TWIN DECKS (with Jon Leone, 2001, 6 min.). (www.jenniferreeder.com) BetaSP and DigiBeta video.



CONFESSIONS OF A SOCIOPATH
Thursday, February 23, 6:00 p.m.
Joe Gibbons in person!
Confessions of a Sociopath: Recent Work by Joe Gibbons
Joe Gibbons, 2001-2006, USA, 85 min.

Joe Gibbons' dry humor comes across in obsessive rants that scrape the bottom of a monomaniacal mind, spilling forth with fantasies of power, destruction, and death. In this selection of recent videos, Gibbons reveals the depth of his psychosis: documenting his paranoia; confiding his sins (endless drug and alcohol abuse, shoplifting; cheating on his parole officer); and teaching us how to make a movie. CONFESSIONS OF A SOCIOPATH PART 1 (2001 - 2006, 35 min.); CONFESSIONS OF A SOCIOPATH PART 2 (THESE ARE MY SINS) (preview, 2006, 15 min.); THE PRODUCER (Tony Conrad with Joe Gibbons and Louise Bourque, 2005, 15 min.); and DOPPELGANGER (2006, 20 min.). Co-presented with the Video Data Bank. BetaSP video.

MARCH 2006



THE SHARPEST POINT
Thursday, March 2, 6:00 p.m.
Curators Chris Gehman and Steve Reinke in person!
The Sharpest Point
1908-2005, Canada/France/Japan/UK/USA, 70 min.

In celebration of the publication of School of the Art Institute of Chicago faculty member Steve Reinke and Chris Gehman's recent animation anthology, THE SHARPEST POINT, tonight's program spans the entirety of animation history, tracing subterranean cinematic currents peculiar to the form. Curated by Reinke and Gehman, the works range from Emile Cohl's pioneering FANTASMAGORIE (1908, 2 min.) and the mind-boggling jazz age surrealism of the Fleischers' SNOW-WHITE (1933, 7 min.) to classic and contemporary works of cameraless abstraction and recent videos created for gallery exhibition. FREE RADICALS (Len Lye, 1959, 5 min.); ELEMENT OF LIGHT Richard Reeves, 2004, 5 min.); ZUSE STRIP (Caspar Stracke, 2003, 8 min.); A FEATHER STARE AT THE DARK (Tsuji Naoyuki, 2002, 17 min.); THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (Stephen Andrews, 2004, 2 min. loop); JAPANESE KITCHEN: THREE STORIES (Tabaimo, 2000, 9 min.); GREAT EMARICAN MUSIC (Aaron Ray, 2005, 7 min.); RED BUFFALO SKYDIVE (Jude Norris, 2001, 4 min.). 35mm, 16mm, and BetaSP video. There will be a book signing in the café/gallery before and after the screening.
[Image courtesy Vtape.]



DAN SANDIN: 35 YEARS OF ELECTRONIC ART
Thursday, March 9, 6:00 p.m.
Dan Sandin in person!
Dan Sandin: 35 Years of Electronic Art
Dan Sandin, 1969-2006, USA, 60 min.

Chicago artist Dan Sandin is one of the leading figures in the history of image-based electronic art. With the development of the Sandin Image Processor (I.P.), the University of Illinois' Electronic Visualization Lab (EVL), and CAVE virtual reality theater, Sandin has played a role in the growth of video art, interactive video, immersive electronic environments, video game technologies, virtual reality, and the open source movement. And, much of his work has played a defining role in the aesthetics of digital art today-from realtime video manipulation to Hollywood special effects. Tonight Sandin will lead us on a whirlwind tour of his career in a multimedia show featuring rare tapes from his earliest days with video and examples of his most recent work.

[FRAY]
Tonight's show is part of FRAY-a three-part mini-series and conference tracing the intersecting hyperthreads of time, screen, and code-based experimental media art hosted by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Department of Film, Video, and New Media. For more information visit: www.fvnm.info/fray.



PHIL COLLINS: VIDEOS 1999 - 2005
Thursday, March 16, 6:00 p.m
Phil Collins in person!
Phil Collins: Videos 1999 - 2005
Phil Collins, 1999-2005, Colombia/Iraq/Spain/Turkey/UK, 100 min.

UK photographer and video artist Phil Collins' works are a savvy blend of politics and pop culture. Working in embattled regions around the globe-Belfast, Belgrade, Baghdad, Bogotá-he takes on mass media representations of these geopolitical flashpoints by casting residents in pop-song-scored performances both charming and discomforting. In they shoot horses (2004), nine young Palestinians compete in an eight-hour disco marathon staged in a lurid pink gymnasium; in el mundo no escuchará (2004) Colombian Smiths fans sing along to backing tracks (a rerecording of the album The World Won't Listen by Bogotá musicians) against photographs of Mediterranean holiday villas and tropical sunsets; and in baghdad screentests (2002), Iraqis channel Warhol while preparing for the United States' "last resort." Collins will screen an exclusive CATE mix of these videos along with: how to make a refugee (1999); dünya dinlemiyor (2005); the louder you scream, the faster we go (2005); and the return of the real (2005). DVD and miniDV.
[Image courtesy the artist, Kerlin Gallery and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery.]



SHUDDHABRATA SENGUPTA AND THE RAQS MEDIA COLLECTIVE
Thursday, March 30, 6:00 p.m
Shuddhabrata Sengupta in person!
Shuddhabrata Sengupta and the Raqs Media Collective
Shuddhabrata Sengupta, 1991-2005, India, 60 min.

Shuddhabrata Sengupta is a media-maker, writer, and one of the co-founders of the Raqs Media Collective, a group of artists working in new and old media, installations, video, sound, photography and text based in Delhi, India. Founded in 1991, their hybridized practice is both rooted in the geography of Delhi and the nomadism of the web. They are also the co-founders of the Sarai New Media Lab which serves as their studio, hosts workshops, and maintains www.sarai.net, an extensive web site containing essays, discussion groups, and interactive projects investigating the role of media in our increasingly cosmopolitan world. Raqs has exhibited around the globe, including the 50th Venice Biennale and Documenta 11. Sengupta will give a multi-media presentation on his work with Raqs and Sarai, including MEDIA CITY, PUBLICS AND PRACTICES IN THE HISTORY OF THE PRESENT, and GARAGE, among others. (www.raqsmediacollective.net)

[FRAY]
Tonight's show is part of FRAY-a three-part mini-series and conference tracing the intersecting hyperthreads of time, screen, and code-based experimental media art hosted by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Department of Film, Video, and New Media. For more information visit: www.fvnm.info/fray.

APRIL 2006



MEDIA CITY: FILMS AND VIDEOS FROM MEDIA CITY
Thursday, April 6, 6:00 p.m
Curator David Dinnell in person!
Media City: Films and Videos from Media City 2006
2004-2005, Austria/Belgium/Brazil/England/Japan/Malaysia/USA, 89 min.

In the last twelve years, Media City has become one of the premiere festivals for experimental film and video art in North America. Staged each February in Windsor, the fest is renowned for its smart and cosmopolitan programming (videos from the Brazilian underground follow those featured in the Venice Biennale, meditations from Japan's avant-garde bracket the latest in Austrian techno-minimalism) savvy installations, and adventurous live film and video performances. Tonight's program, curated by Media City Program Director David Dinnell, is a sampling of work showcased at Media City '06 and enticement to attend next year's event. MAN. ROAD. RIVER (Marcellvs L, 2005, 11 min.); BRIDGE OVER THE DRINA (Xavier Lomski, 2005, 18 min.); MARKET STREET (Tomonari Nishikawa, 2005, 5 min.); CHRONOMOPS (Tina Frank, 2004, 2 min.); OBJECT STUDIES (Nicky Hamlyn, 2005, 17 min.); MADE IN CHINATOWN (Jim Jennings, 2005, 7 min.); MANTIS TALES (Chu-Li Shewring, 2005, 14 min.); EVERGREEN (Rob Todd, 2005, 15 min.). (www.houseoftoast.ca/mediacity/) 35mm, 16mm, and miniDV.



IMAGE X SOUND: THE SHORT FILMS OF TATSU AOKI
Thursday, April 13, 6:00 p.m
Tatsu Aoki in person!
Image x Sound: The Short Films of Tatsu Aoki
Tatsu Aoki, 1991-2006, USA, 76 min.
In celebration of acclaimed Chicago musician and filmmaker (and School of the Art Institute of Chicago faculty member), Tatsu Aoki's 25th year making films, CATE and the 11th Annual Chicago Asian American Showcase present a two-part retrospective of his extraordinary short diary films. Aoki began keeping a daily film diary of his life in the mid 1970s. "I carried Super 8 cameras everywhere I went and my house was surrounded by 13 different cameras. Some cameras were on tripods, some with time-exposure, time-lapse, broken cameras, hand cranked cameras...My life was on the roll and on the reel." Today, this body of work spans 25 years, archives hundreds of hours, stretches thousands upon thousands of feet (on Super 8, 16mm, and DV), and constitutes over a dozen films. Tonight's screening is the second half of the retrospective (part one screens earlier this week as part of the Showcase) and features the premiere of Aoki's latest work TRAVELING SPIRITS (2006, 15 min.) along with: DECADES PASSED (2003, 25 min.); SHAPE (1996, 8 min.); and DISCOVERY (1991, 28 min.). (www.tatsuaoki.com) Super 8 and16mm.



THE TIME WE KILLED
Thursday, April 20, 6:00 p.m
Jennifer Reeves in person!
THE TIME WE KILLED
Jennifer Reeves, 2005, USA, 94 min.

Set in the unhinged months that stretched from 9-11 to the invasion of Iraq, Jennifer Reeves' award-winning feature debut achieves a quiet power through rough-edged, handcrafted means. Best known as an accomplished abstract filmmaker, Reeves wrings bitter truth, confused paranoia, and impotent rage from those days, infusing them into the story of an agoraphobic poet, Robyn (real-life poet Lisa Jarnot). Robyn sequesters herself in a small Brooklyn apartment as global events unravel; a day without leaving becomes a week, then blurs into months. But the outside nevertheless intrudes: Bush calls for war on TV, concerned friends leave messages, neighbors' arguments seep through the walls. Robyn's verbal and visual stream of consciousness provides an internal narrative in more ways than one, as her observations blend into a lyrical swirl of sunny reverie, muted trauma, and inescapable reality. (Ed Halter, Village Voice) (http://home.earthlink.net/~jennreeves/) 16mm.



THE MEMO BOOK: THE FILMS AND VIDEOS OF MATTHIAS MüLLER
Thursday, April 27, 6:00 p.m
Curator Stefanie Schulte Strathaus in person!
The Memo Book: The Films and Videos of Matthias Müller
Matthias Müller, 1989-1994, Germany, 65 min.

"Müller's deeply felt and elegantly constructed work marks him as one of the most important filmmakers of his generation." (Mike Hoolboom)

Matthias Müller's work can be read as the unwritten history of German experimental film. At once moving and smart, his lush, image-rich films and videos draw on the broad iconography of Hollywood melodrama (and its reflection in the queer avant-garde), Super 8 home-movie fragments, brooding Expressionist themes, and structuralist rigor to reflect a deep engagement with history, media, and memory. Tonight's program is the second evening in a three-part retrospective of Müller's work curated by Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, artistic director of the Freunde der Deutschen Kinemathek in Berlin (http://www.fdk-berlin.de/), and co-presented by the Experimental Film Club at the University of Chicago and Block Cinema (http://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/block-cinema/) and includes his 1989 masterpiece AUS DER FERNE - THE MEMO BOOK (28 min.) along with: SLEEPY HAVEN (1993,14 min.); STERNENSCHAUER - SCATTERING STARS (1994, 2 min.); HOME STORIES (1990, 6 min.); and ALPSEE (1994, 15 min.). Part one screens Wednesday, April 26 at Block Cinema. Part three screens Friday, April 28 at the EFC. 16mm.

MAY 2006



CALCULATIONS: PIONEERS OF COMPUTER ANIMATION
Thursday, May 4, 6:00 p.m
Calculations: Pioneers of Computer Animation
1961-1985, Canada/USA, 64 min.

Decades before Hollywood CGI spectaculars, artists worked with computers to create an aesthetic specific to the machine. At IBM, Bell, and in their own home-built labs, they generated visionary spectacles from mathematical precision--complex abstractions, stroboscopic patterns, kinetic rhythms, and volumetric illusions. Tonight's program is a cross-section of films by these early pioneers-from John Whitney's stunning, analog-computer-generated CATALOG (1961, 7 min.) and the pulsating geometry of Lillian Schwartz's ENIGMA (1972, 4 min.) to the dense digital metaphysics of John Stehura's CYBERNETIK 5.3 (1965-69, 8 min.) and the allegorical characters of Peter Foldes' HUNGER (1973, 12 min.). Also on the program: HUMMINGBIRD (Charles Csuri, 1967 10 min.); SUNSTONE (Ed Emshwiller, 1979, 3 min.); CALCULATED MOVEMENTS (Larry Cuba, 1985, 6 min.); POEMFIELD NO. 5: FREE FALL (Stan VanDerBeek, 1966, 7 min.); PERMUTATIONS (John Whitney, 1968, 7 min.). 16mm.

[FRAY]
Tonight's show is part of FRAY-a three-part mini-series and conference tracing the intersecting hyperthreads of time, screen, and code-based experimental media art hosted by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Department of Film, Video, and New Media. For more information visit: www.fvnm.info/fray.

YEAR END SHOW
Thursday, May 11, 6:00 p.m

Tonight's program is a cinematic toast to the semester's end with a cross-section of current work by students in the department of Film, Video, and New Media. Cheers!