Over The Opening

OTO Hibernation

mriver — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:35:47 +0000

OTO will be in hibernation for the time being as MTAA works on some projects in the studio. In the meantime, please visit the OTO Show Archive.

The Purple Reign

mriver — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 03:16:11 +0000

OTO is pleased to present Brinson Renda, Preston Poe and Michael Sarff ’s The Purple Reign - live and prerecorded dramatic readings of the 1984 classic Purple Rain

Prerecorded readings at The Purple Reign’s YouTube channel -

http://www.youtube.com/digigogo

Installation for live readings Dec 3rd to 12th at Digi a Go Go - 2724 NW 2 Avenue, Miami, FL 33127 - corner of NW 2nd Ave & 28th St. Opening Friday Dec 4, 2009 from 7-11pm

This will be the last OTO project for the near future.

more photos from The Purple Reign in Miami on Flickr

SUBWAY • 1 • 2 • 3

mriver — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:06:39 +0000

On Saturday November 21, from 7 to 10pm, Over The Opening is pleased to present
SUBWAY • 1 • 2 • 3, a new three-channel projection by G.H. Hovagimyan.

The subway is a defining urban experience across cultures. Underground and in the subconscious, every rider experiences a disjunctive experience when entering one place and emerging in a different one. In day to day experience, time spent on a subway ride can resemble lost footage between cuts in a movie. But when a movie includes scenes shot in a subway, the subway passage becomes a shared, collective experience. Familiarity with subway scenes from movies have become part of the contemporary vernacular, creating “Oh I remember that film!” reactions. Movie scenes shot in subways also trigger deeper feelings as the viewer defines and redefines personal and shared experiences. In the work I have created using subway scenes from movies, narrative conventions of standard film techniques have been removed to further the exploration of submerged emotions.

The installation includes three video loops of one hour each. The piece is designed as a three-panel projection with the three loops running simultaneously. Since the individual movie clips in each loop are of varying aspect ratios, I selected a standard 1280 x 720 pixel ratio and fit the clips into that size. By doing that, some of the clips are squeezed into higher definition and others become pixilated. The use of translation and codec problems, and the variations produced by varied definition are an integral part of the work. Visual association, media memory, and a collective experience can be furthered by asking the viewer to adapt to differences. Copyright issues are addressed as the completed artwork is composed entirely of re-purposed cinema found solely on the Internet.

The complete subway movie list is provided below for reference. The movies with dots after their names had subway sequences that I gleaned from the Internet and are included in the work.

48 Hrs
A Taste of Tea‚•
Adventures in Baby-Sitting‚•
After‚•
After Hours‚•
Along Came A Spider
American Werewolf In London
American Werewolf In Paris‚•
Annie Hall
Bang the drum slowly
Barbershop 2: Back In Business
Beethoven Virus‚•
BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES
Blade‚•
Bless the Child
Bless the Child trailer‚•
ButterflyMole‚•
Brother From Another Planet‚•
Carlito’s Way‚•
Collateral
Condemned‚•
Conspiracy Theory
Die Another Day
Die Hard With a Vengance
Do the Right Thing
Edmond‚•
End of Days
Fame
FBI Story
Flatliners
FRENCH CONNECTION II
Getting Even With Dad
Ghost‚•
Ghostbusters
Godfather
Godzilla
Happyness‚•
HUNTED
Incident
Inner Circle‚•
Irreversible.
ITALIAN JOB (2003)
Jacob’s Ladder Cowboy Way
Creep‚•
Crocodile Dundee
Daredevil
Daybreak Express‚•
Death Wish
Little Fugitive
Little Nicky
Lost in Translation
Malcolm X
Maniac
Marathon Man
Matrix Revolutions
Men in Black 2
Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Meat Train‚•
Mimic
Money Train
Mr. Wonderful
My Best Friends Wedding
My Boss’s Daughter
My Dinner with Andre
Naked City
Network
Neverwhere (Neil Gaimens )
Next Stop Greenwich
Village
Nighthawks
North by Northwest
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
ODDESSA FILE
On The Line
Paycheck
Passer By
Pi‚•
Pickup On South Street‚•
Predator II
Prizzi’s Honor
Pursuit of Happyness
Quartermass and the Pit‚•
Resident Evil?
Risky Buisness
Rosemary’s Baby
Rules of Attraction
Saturday Night Fever
Serendipity
Seven Year Itch‚•
Silver Streak Just Another Girl on the IRT
King Kong‚•
King of Comedy
King of New York‚•
Knowing‚•
Sleeper Cell‚•
Sliding Doors
songs from the 2nd floor
Speed
Step Up 2‚•
Strange Days
Subway (by Luc Besson)‚•
Suicide Club‚•
SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE
Swat
SWIMMING POOL
TAKING OF PELHAM 1,2,3
Taxi Driver
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Secret of the Ooze
They
Three and Out‚•
Total Recall
Trackman‚•
Train Simulator‚•
Trick‚•
Tube‚•
Twelve Angry Men
Underworld.
Untouchables
volcano ‚•
Waking the Dead‚•
WARRIORS‚•
Weekend at Bernie’s II
West Side Story
When Harry met Sally
While you were Sleeping
Wings of Desire‚•
Wrong Man
Yards‚•
You’ve Got Mail

Update - documentation from the event
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mriver/sets/72157622853778656/

youTunes: a performance sound project with Preston Poe and Kyle Hester

mriver — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:07:45 +0000

On October 10, 2009 from 7pm to 10pm, Over The Opening is pleased to present “YouTunes”: a performance sound project with Preston Poe and Kyle Hester.

YouTunes is a personalized song customization and distribution system. Poe and Hester invite you to participate by filling out a simple primarily multiple-choice form. Based on your answers, the artists will craft a custom-made song just for you.

“We’ll write, play, sing, record and burn a CD just for you on the spot- all for 99 centavos”

In an effort to compete with iTunes, the artists will be charging 99 cents per song. You bring a dollar bill and they will give you back your very own song burnt on CD and penny for your thoughts change. Choose your themes, rhythm, key phrases, and musical style, and they will match it to a carefully considered, spontaneous, personally crafted melody - with lyrics to boot!

Poe and Hester’s cache of musical YouTunes styles and instruments includes (but is not limited to) Theremin, electric “micro” pipe organ, washtub, fingerpickin’ guitar, ukulele, various percussion instruments, and many other surprises.

Free beer and wine will be on hand as well as a variety of international culinary tastes that will appeal to one and all.

Update - documentation from the youTunes event

some photos from You Tunes at OTO last night on Flickr

Participants answer questions on a form, such as favorite superhero or cake. The You Tunes band (Preston Poe, Kyle Hester, David and Tara Gladden, Monica Hurtado and Clinton Wilkins) with about 1 min prep, played your song and burned it on CD. They asked Tim and I to kick it off by attempting to each do a song. Here are the awkward-but-fun results.

M.River Song by T.Whid
T.Whid’s Song By M.River

World’s First, Possibly Only and Probably Last iPhone Drum Circle (aka IPDC)

mriver — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 17:00:53 +0000

OTO and Conflux09 are proud to present MTAA + Mike Koller’s World’s First, Possibly Only and Probably Last iPhone Drum Circle (aka IPDC)

Who: MTAA in collaboration with Mike Koller and anyone with an iPhone and a drum or bongo application.
What: a 1-hour iPhone drum circle in a park.
Where: McCarren Park, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (Driggs and union near Green Dome Garden).
When: September 20, 2009 from 2 to 3pm
Why: it is an idea that needs to be attempted at least once.
http://tinjail.com/ipdc

Rain location at OTO - 60 North 6th Street 2nd floor

Update - documentation from the IPDC event

IPDC Flicker Set
2 short quicktime clips
Teck Si-Fi Jam
Pet Sounds

oto is out for the summer

mriver — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:49:39 +0000

OTO is on vacation. We will be back in September. In the meantime, please visit our archive of past shows.

photos from the Feraliminal Lycanthroparty

mriver — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:57:41 +0000

some photos from Kai’s OTO, The Feraliminal Lycanthroparty, now up on OTO’s Flickr set

The Feraliminal Lycanthroparty

mriver — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:26:36 +0000

On June 13th from 7 to 10pm, OTO is pleased to present a new sound environment by Kai Vierstra

The Feraliminal Lycanthroparty is a celebration of one of the most diabolically wacky inventions science has ever seen (or at least whispered about). It’s the feraliminal lycanthropizer and it’s a low frequency thanato-auric wave generator, and it’s at OTO for one night only. Expect some serious relaxation of muscles and mores with vibrations and party favors. It’s gonna be an awesome night. The feraliminal lycanthroparty is brought to you by the Brooklyn based artist, Kai Vierstra, who bases this and most all his other work on the continuation of what little he knows and can guess about his father’s wave research with MIT/Lincoln Laboratory’s group 38 “Air Defense Systems”.

For more information on the feraliminal lycanthropizer, please visit-
http://www.physicsroom.org.nz/log/archive/8/feraliminal/

and for more of Kai’s work - http://kaivierstra.com

documentation from this event

photos from the loop lecture

mriver — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:58:24 +0000

some photos from last nights OTO - The Wheel of The Devil (aka the loop lecture) now up on
OTO’s Flickr set


Update
Ed began the night by screening Bruce Conner’s Report (1963-1967) and Marilyn Times Five (1968-1973) as people entered into the space. He then spoke a bit on the history of the film loop from the 'Daedalum' (aka 'the wheel of the devil) or as it was later renamed 'Zoetrope' (aka 'wheel of life') to early porn loops. He then turned to the structural/ materialist approach to loops in which film is treated physically as a object (using tape to create a loop), editing looping sections into a film, and the act of reprinting sections of a film over and over to create a linear work that loops.
He then showed, as examples, two 16mm works - George Landow ‘s "Film in Which There Appear..." 1965 and Malcolm Le Grice’s Berlin Horse from 1970 (single screen) with a looping Brain Eno soundtrack (think music box) and ended with a section of Jack Goldstein loops including “the Jump” 1979 shown from DVD.
Next, Tim began to present the 17 digital works. He introduced each work with the artist name, the title of the work and the original format (and a note if it was translated from the original format for the screening). The rule was set up that each loop would run until a majority of the audience raised their hand to move to the next loop. Counter to what one might expect, each loop played for some time until people even began to consider looking at the next.
Once Tim ran through the 17 works, he returned to the top of the list and began again. Some people left, some people stayed and the length of duration people looked at the work stayed about the same or in the case of a few works became even longer.
Two thoughts from doing this project
1. Work in translation is never the same. Goldstein’s loops on DVD from a digital projector are not the same as the film loops showing at the Met right now. I am thankful that translations occur as it allows more people to see the work and hopefully seek out source material.
2. Although we tend to think of loops both film and digital (and sound as well) as infinite, the act of perception always has a start and stop.



The Wheel of The Devil (aka the loop lecture)
mriver — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:41:42 +0000


stills from “The Horror! The Horror! (.info)”  by Jon Rafman
The Wheel of The Devil (aka the loop lecture)

curated by MTAA with Ed Halter

presented by T.Whid of MTAA
The infinite loop is the perfect form for expressing the reality of contemporary existence. From the endless boom-bust cycle of capitalism to the repeating right/left swings of American politics to the misbehaving computer code frustrating our days, we are the society of the loop. We’re doomed to repeat history ad infinitum (not to mention ad nauseum) with no progress nor resolve needed. These observations are nothing new; how could they be? We’ve always been Sisyphus.
while (history) {
    history = true;
}
Come celebrate the horrific beauty of the infinite loop at “The Wheel of The Devil,” a one-night-only screening of historic and contemporary loops at Over The Opening. Each loop screened until the audience votes to move to the next.
Artists include (in no particular order):
JODI - Rick Silva - Brody Condon - Jon Rafman - Deidre LaCarte - Michael Sarff - MTAA - Hayley A. Silverman - Mathwrath - Chris Coy - Michael Bell-Smith - jimpunk -  and more… JODI - Rick Silva - Brody Condon - Jon Rafman - Deidre LaCarte - Michael Sarff - MTAA - Hayley A. Silverman - Mathwrath - Chris Coy - Michael Bell-Smith - jimpunk - and more… JODI - Rick Silva - Brody Condon - Jon Rafman - Deidre LaCarte - Michael Sarff - MTAA - Hayley A. Silverman - Mathwrath - Chris Coy - Michael Bell-Smith – jimpunk - and more…
* where:*

Over The Opening (OTO)

60 N. 6th St. 2nd Flr (btw Wythe & Kent)

Brooklyn, NY, 11211
* when:*

Friday May 29th, 2009 7-10PM (one night only)

Doors open at 7PM, the lecture starts looping at 8PM sharp!

free and open to the public
Michael Sarff (M.River) and Tim Whidden (T.Whid) formed the Brooklyn-based

artist collaboration MTAA in 1996. MTAA has presented artworks and

performances at The New Museum of Contemporary Art, P.S.1 Contemporary Art

Center, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Postmasters Gallery, Artists

Space, and Light Industry all in New York City; The Walker Art Center in

Minneapolis; The Beall Center for Art and Technology in Irvine, CA; San

Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA and at The Getty Center in

Los Angeles, CA. International exhibitions include the Seoul Net & Film

Festival in Korea and Videozone2 - The 2nd International Video Art Biennial

in Israel. The collaboration has earned grants and awards from the Creative

Capital Foundation, Rhizome.org, Eyebeam and New Radio & Performing Arts,

Inc.
Ed Halter is a critic and curator living in New York City. His writing has

appeared in Artforum, Arthur, The Believer, Cinema Scope, Kunstforum,

Millennium Film Journal, Moving Image Source, Rhizome, the Village Voice and

elsewhere. From 1995 to 2005, he programmed and oversaw the New York

Underground Film Festival, and has organized screenings and exhibitions for

the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Cinematexas, Eyebeam, the Flaherty Film

Seminar, the Museum of Modern Art, and San Francisco Cinematheque. He

currently teaches in the Film and Electronic Arts department at Bard

College, and has lectured at Harvard, NYU, Yale, and other schools as well

as at Art in General, Aurora Picture Show, the Foundation for Art and

Creative Technology, the Images Festival, the Impakt Festival, and Pacific

Film Archive. His book From Sun Tzu to Xbox: War and Video Games was

published by Thunder’s Mouth Press in 2006. With Andrea Grover, he is

currently editing the collection A Microcinema Primer: A Brief History of

Small Cinemas. He is a founder and director of Light Industry, a venue for

film and electronic art in Brooklyn, New York.
Over The Opening (OTO) - Once a month, the artist duo MTAA convert their

Brooklyn studio into a venue for the presentation of time-based art. The

ongoing project, begun in October 2007, has presented work ranging from

group tamale production to a LAN party involving a computerized version of

Guy Debord’s 1978 “Game of War.”
documentation from this event