Meet the Artist: Reception on Saturday, December 8, 6pm
Title: Work in progress
Media: Site specific installation, video, sound.
Dates: November 24 through December 15, 2001
Hours: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, from 4:00 - 8:00 pm (free admission)
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 24, 6:00 - 8:00 pm (free admission)
Location: The Sanctuary of Seattle First Christian Church, 1632 Broadway (across from
SCCC on Capitol Hill) - enter through front doors facing Broadway
Dimensions: H 20' x W 55' x W 55'
Artist Support - Ed Mannery, Bardi Martin, Pete Bjordahl, David Donar, Sean Taylor,
Pedro Alexander, Greg D'Elia, Howard Howlett, Howard Meeks, Kelly Wilbur, Corey Contreras,
Franklin Joyce and Peter Drury.
Description:
This project emerges from Iole Alessandrini's studies and applications of
space, lasers and video as the result of a three month residency program at 911 Media Arts Center.
With the use of multiple LCD panels and sound, the artist combines words and numbers to
present the viewer with an exhibition that is both visually and cognitively stimulating --
visually in terms of beautiful overlays of light and colors; cognitively by drawing attention
to the aesthetic qualities of numbers in the intangible sense of representation. The result is
an enchanting visual and aural experience that brings together the ephemeral nature of
installation art with the transcendence of the Church's sanctuary and the ambiguity/beauty of
language.
Five distinctive LCD panels are placed between the pews, the pulpit, the lectern and the altar
of the First Christian Church. From the altar, two LCD panels show images of numbers scrolling
from one panel onto the next, while projecting a reversed shadow of themselves. Numbers are
numeric coordinates describing the arches, columns, and pews' profiles of the church. The same
images are seen from two distinctive LCD panels in the pews area, where a sophisticated set of
live cameras and luminous screens allow viewers to simultaneously see themselves mixed into
recorded video images of numbers -- the same ones visible from the altar. On the pulpit,
another LCD panel, shows animated words continuously repeating truth is not a sentence.
A sound in "A" surrounds the space and is synchronized to the voice of the artist speaking in
multiple accents. The overall speech is incomprehensible. The sound of the words sometimes
resembles real ones, but essentially they say nothing.
Italian artist and architect Iole Alessandrini holds a diploma in fine arts from the First
State School of Fine Arts in Rome. She earned master's degrees in architecture from both the
University of La Sapienze in Rome and the University of Washington. Alessandrini has received
numerous national grants and awards, and was a recipient of the prestigious 2000 Betty Bowen
Memorial Award. Past large-scale installations have taken place in the historic water tower at
Volunteer Park, Sand Point Naval Base, and the ruins of a two city blocks in downtown Tacoma.
Resulting directly from discussions with artists, 911 Media Arts Center's Artist in Residence
Program nurtures emerging and established artists using digital media as an art form. The
Artist in Residence program is made possible through generous support from: the Andrea Frank
Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the Allen Foundation for the Arts.
911 Media Arts Center is Washington State's largest non-profit organization supporting the
creative use of new media. 911 Media Arts Center offers: affordable access to equipment,
workshops in all aspects of media production, screenings of independent films and videos,
youth programs in media literacy and production, and artistic programs in the exhibition of
new media.
A WORK IN PROGRESS
