Saturday November 15, 7:30pm
Elegant Interiors
Videos & live music by Alice Cohen
admission $6 – artist in person
Still from “Elegant Interiors” (Alice Cohen, 2014) © 2014 courtesy of the artist
Microscope Gallery is pleased to present an evening of new and recent stop motion animations and live music performance by Brooklyn-based artist and musician Alice Cohen. Appropriating discarded images found in old books and magazines, Cohen’s animations create a mystical and surreal internal landscape exploring the history of glamour and femininity.
Her works evolved from a background in the new wave Philadelphia music scene including as the lead singer of Fun City, The Vels, and Die Monster Die — making collage show flyers and performing in the early days of MTV culture. The evening’s presentation will feature a mix of selected music videos and longer video works by the artist as well as a collaborative, improvised musical performance with projections.
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Alice Cohen is a musician and visual artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Active in the music world since the late 70s, she has released records in a wide array of contexts. Her visual work is largely based on collage and found images. In 2007 she began developing her collages into moving animations, and has since made dozens of music videos in addition to her own video work that has been shown in a variety of venues from galleries, screenings, and museums to nightclub dance parties.
Program:
Landrunner (2009, 3 min)
First music video ever made, for the hypnagogic pop group Ducktails, using cutup and reconfigured architectural elements and shapes. The music blog Stereogum described it as “psychedout cutnpaste Max Ernstatthebeach imagery”.
Broken Heartscape (2010, 2.5 min)
A music video which was never released, for the Berlinbased solo musician known as Vomit Heat. Vintage planes, and 1960s imagery from Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival, were inspired by the sambaesque drumbeat in the song.
White Woman (2010, 5 min)
Early music video for the band Broken Deer a solo musician and mystic living in the Yukon. Collage cutouts of nature, frontier women, and objects such as antlers and feathers to capture an imagined vision of wilderness and desolation.
Mirror Moves for Private Eyes (2010, 14 min)
Originally shown as the centerpiece of a solo art show at the now defunct Live With Animals gallery in Williamsburg. An exploration of glamour and “beauty magic” using the idea of the mirror as a metaphysical portal.
Private Booths for Sallow Suits (2012, 3 min)
Music video for the experimental band Human Resources. Typewriters, old computers, and empty conference rooms figure in this short piece playing with the idea of escape within the confines of the cubicle and office workplace.
For Claire (excerpt) (2012, 5 min)
Excerpt from a longer piece, originally shown as a live projection for Grimes (aka Claire Boucher) at the New Museum. This edit has a new electronic sound score. A visual meditation within a personal dreamscape, simultaneously antique and futuristic; an internal exploration of the sacred feminine discovered through layers of swirling paint, and animated found imagery.
Perfumes of Venus (2014, 5 min)
Inspired by the mystery of gem essences, a further exploration of celestial and feminine atmospheres, the floral and fairy realms, and the delicacy of perfumes and crystals…an attempt to make ethereal worlds visible through stop motion, collage and paint.
Elegant Interiors (2014, 14 min)
A brand new piece connecting ideas of architecture and the body…rooms envisioned within the mind, physical and imaginary spaces, dream spaces. Memory banks and rooms as thought repositories. Tonight’s show will have a special live improvised soundtrack featuring Alice Cohen, Adrian Knight and Genevieve Kammel Morris.
Microscope Gallery gratefully acknowledges the Robert D. Bielecki Foundation as the Official Sponsor of our Event Series.
