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Duo Kinetica - National Gallery of Art
Pioneering expanded-animation artist Eric Dyer and world-renowned pianist Jiayin Shen are Duo Kinetica. On Nov. 25, 2022 they performed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. In this current direction of his multifaceted art practice, Dyer uses modern technology to reinvent the phenakistiscope as a medium for live performance and improvisation. Spinning these disks, covered in sequential images and forms (some found, many artist-created), under a hand-held, high shutter-speed camcorder fed to a large video projection, Dyer presents mindbogglingly complex and beautiful animated visuals as well as dynamic stillness-come-to-life in found objects/images (such as manhole covers and 19th-century phenakistiscopes). Paired with Shen’s piano performance of music by composers such as Scott Joplin, John Adams, Steve Reich, Horacio Lavandera, Wendy Carlos, and Nils Frahm; Duo Kinetica explores themes including non-violence, motion hidden in everyday life, the city symphony, pre-cinema history, the male gaze, industrial heydays, and our relationship with technology.
Phenakistiscopes (invented in 1832) were a milestone in the history of moving-image development - they demonstrated continuous motion for the first time, making use of minimal differences between the sequential images. However, their content was rarely elevated beyond pure novelty, and once motion picture film was invented in the late 19th-century, such optical devices sunk into obscurity. Current technology, like progressive-scan video and live projection, now enable a reinvented phenakistiscope for animation performance that is informed by VJing and LPs-and-turntables-as-musical-instrument DJing.
Shake the World - work-in-progress - Headlands sequence - music by Rudresh Mahanthappa
Change of pace here that reflects my residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts during the summer of 2019. The arts center was formerly a military base. This place is stunningly beautiful, and full of paradoxes. Likely this sequence will be performed with composer/musician Rudresh Mahanthappa for our project Shake the World.