U.S. Debut French Artists at Wood Street Galleries

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kill Date: January 1, 2010
Contact: Veronica Corpuz, (412) 471-6082 / corpuz@pgharts.org
Electronic images available upon request.


MATTER AND MEMORY
The U.S. debut of French installation artist
JULIEN MAIRE
@ WOOD STREET GALLERIES
Exhibition runs through Thursday, December 31, 2009
601 Wood Street, Pittsburgh PA 15222

[PITTSBURGH, PA] Wood Street Galleries, a project of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, presents “Matter and Memory,” the U.S. premiere of French installation artist Julien Maire. This special exhibition features four experimental forms of projection, highlighting simultaneously both the simplicity and complexity of matter, vision, and memory. The exhibition closes on New Year’s Eve, Thursday, December 31, 2009, as part of the Cultural Trust’s First Night Pittsburgh celebration.

Julien Maire is a French artist and performer based in Berlin. In his work and performance he deconstructs and re-devises audiovisual techniques. His performances and installations have been shown in several countries, including Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria; Sculpture Space in Shanghai, China; Sonar 07 in Barcelona, Spain; Tesla Media in Berlin, Germany; and the Kibla Multimedia Center in Maribor, Slovenia; as well as the Digital Art Festival in Tokyo, Japan, and Australian Centre for Moving Images in Melbourne, Australia, among others.
Julien Maire won an award at the Ars Electronica festival in Austria in 2004 and in 2007. He also won the first prize at the Liedts-Meesen Fondation in Belgium for his Exploding Camera installation in 2008. Most recently, he was nominated for his collective body of work at "World Technology Awards" in New York.

On view at Wood Street Galleries are four installations. “Demi-Pas” (2002) is a short film which is projected using a ‘reversed camera’ technique. A projector has been converted to house micro-mechanisms that produce animated images using a principle similar to that of cinematography.

Constructed with a television monitor connected to the dissected body of a video camera lying on a table, the piece “Exploding Camera” (2007) is a kind of destroyed medium able to produce live an experimental historical film, reinterpreting the events of the war since 2001.

"Low resolution Cinema" (2005) is a 128 x 64 pixels projection. The piece is based on a high reduction of the resolution and by the other way it tries to "decompress" the image in a three dimensional space. The projection is produced with a special projector using two black and white Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD). Both are in movement inside of the projector. The horizon line, or border, is physically cut on each lcd ( each LCD has been half- destructed in order to display only the upper or the lower side of the image. Abstract landscapes and architecture are moving between dissolution and resolution.

Lastly, “Digit" (2006) is a live performance that is also conceived to be presented as a piece of living Art. A writer sits at a table writing a text. Simply by sliding his finger over a blank piece of paper, printed text appears under his finger. The spectators can come very close to the 'writer' and read the text following the movement of the finger. The writer remains absorbed in his task.

Located at 601 Wood Street above the T-Station in downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, the Galleries are free and open to the public Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. For more information, call Wood Street Galleries at (412) 471-5605 or visit www.woodstreetgalleries.org.

Support for Wood Street Galleries has been provided by the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Additional support provided by the Port Authority of Allegheny County and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.


ALSO ON VIEW

@ SPACE
Transfer Lounge
Through November 21
TRANSFER LOUNGE is a project that involves art professionals from Spain and U.S.A and creates a unique opportunity for artists from different parts of the world to actively exchange their views and ideas around issues of mobility and transition. Co-curated by Carolina Loyola-Garcia (USA) and Ima Pico (Spain).

A project of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, SPACE is located at 812 Liberty Avenue, Cultural District, and is free and open to the public Tuesday-Thursday 11:00 am-6:00 pm and Friday-Saturday 11:00 am to 8:00 pm. For more information call (412) 325-7723 or visit www.spacepittsburgh.org.


@707 PENN GALLERY
Associated Artists of Pittsburgh
October 30 - December 31

707 Penn Gallery is free and open to the public Tuesday-Thursday 11:00 am-6:00 pm and Friday-Saturday 11:00 am to 8:00 pm. For more information call (412) 325-7017 or visit pgharts.org.


@709 PENN GALLERY
Nests, Rhizomes, Seeds: Anna Divinsky, JoAnna Commandaros, Karen Page and Holland Williams: A collaboration evolving from a cabinet of curiosities becomes an investigation of body and nature.
November 13 - December 31

The 709 Penn Gallery is FREE and open to the public Tuesday -Thursday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. For more information call (412) 224-4651 or visit pgharts.org.