Embedded Files
Water Preserves Catalog compiled by Moment eMagazine
| Water Preserves | I thaca, NY
State of the Ar t Gallery (SOAG), I thaca, New York
Wednesday, February 4, through Sunday, March 1, 2009
Opening reception: Friday, February 6, 5:00-8:00 pm
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse,
and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of
the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation.—Herman Melville, Moby
Dick
When a former student called her attention to the beginning passage of Moby Dick, Jan Kather began to
think about water and her upcoming show at State of the Art. She got a copy of the book and says that
“Melville seemed like a kindred spirit, as his sentiments were clearly beyond the obvious fact that water
preserves our physical being.” Kather thought about how essential water has been for the preservation of
culture. “Everywhere I looked,” she says, “ I began to notice references to water, whether it be painting,
music, poetry, plays, Cornell seminars, environmental reports or news of hurricanes, floods, and heavy
snowfall. I looked back at my oeuvre of photographic expression, realizing water was often my subject, but
more often my metaphor for embracing and expecting change.”
Kather initially imagined glass canning jars of water stacked like strawberry preserves in a cupboard.
Deciding that was too literal, she tried projecting video clips of water through the jars of water onto
surrounding walls in her house. “To my surprise,” she says,” the sounds of birds, automobiles, and voices
created an unexpected, prayerful ambience. I knew then that the installation I was planning for February at
State of the Art would center around a transformation of the gallery space into a meditation room.”
The result, a body of work titled “Water Preserves” explores our complex and sometimes precarious
relationship with water by visually and aurally examining its beauty, magic, terror, and poetry.
“The crowning piece for the ʻWater Preservesʼ installation came from recent interactions with international
video artists,” she says. She invited members of that group to participate with her in exploring the idea of
water. She has assembled a twenty-two minute video from their responses that will loop continually in the
gallery.” In addition, Kather is exhibiting still images that pinpoint some of her more personal interpretations
of water preserves.
Ainʼ t Got Long.
Marty McCutcheon, United States 2008
78 seconds of water.
Michael Chang, Denmark 2008
Initially I was moved emotionally by
all the qualities of water. I
was moved by facts about
water and the percentage of
water on this planet. I
wanted my work to reflect
on both, but I didnʼ t know
how to do that. So I started
to create some basic rules. I
set the duration of my
contribution to 100 seconds.
1 second symbolizing 1
percent. Then it was obvious
to symbolize the maximum
percentage of water in a
person, by showing water
running from a tap for 78%
of the video or 78 seconds.
That became the title. Then I
calculated how many litres
were running from the tap in
that period of time. I did that
by filling up a jar, putting it
on a scale and pushing
buttons on a calculator. The
78% percent added up to the
content of water in a child.
(62 pounds or 28 kilos.)
Snow Heart.
Stina Pehrsdotter , Sweden 2008
Snow Heart
a quiet and
quick piece –
slightly
polluted
water on
metal
forms the
shape of
a heart
made of
snow
with
some
spots
of blood.
There are
sacrifices
we have
to make
to
prevent
global
warming.
Water Totem.
Brad Wise, United States 2008
Bound by the
covalent bonds of Hydrogen
and Oxygen electrons, the
flow of water is nothing if
not the flow of energy itself.
It is, in fact, this dipole
bonding property of H20
that informs, fills, and binds
all life on Earth and, surely,
infinite worlds within the
boundless seas of the
cosmos. In mirroring the
natural flow of water on
Earth, and the effects of
light and shadows across its
surface tension, the Universe
and its infinite potential is
reflected endlessly within.
.
Diving.
Experimental film.
Kai Lossgott, South Africa 2008
A mature
woman is stuck in a dream,
a childhood memory of
water, and an inability at
least for the moment to
move into the present. She
covers her eyes, reminiscent
of a childhood game,
perhaps clairvoyance, yet
also have a need to shut out
the noisy world and absorb
deeper realities. Young
children are known to shut
their eyes and believe that
this makes them invisible. It
is also a game of denial at
times, a wilful forgetting
and selective remembering,
indicative of our
contemporary middle class
life and the habits, which
form the basis it exists on.
Either way, in “diving” we
are submerged in the
suggestion that often we
know irrevocably what lies
beneath the surface, whether
our eyes are open or closed,
whether we speak out or not,
and that we must engage
with this part of ourselves.
The open and vulnerable
look of the woman suggests
that she is conscious of the
possible consequences of
her game and draws the
viewer into complicity. It is
a reminder of the
consequences of sight and
that even in the most
momentary of the daily
games we play, we are
making choices that
interrupt the flow of time
and demand action.
Experimental Film.
per former_Monika Dillier
.
Excerpt from Windmaker.
Kika Nicolela, Brazil 2008
“The image
of an ethereal female figure
dissolving in water is
recurrent in my work and
also in the collective
unconscious – we mostly
think of Shakespeareʼs
Ophelia. Thereʼs something
both frightening and
peaceful in letting yourself
go with this woman, fuse
yourself with the shapeless
water. To me is an image of
both death and life at the
same time.” Essay: The
Ghosts of the Place, by
Essay Alessandra Ribeiro.
direction and editing_Kika
Nicolela.
per former_Luciana
Canton. director of
photography_Ching C.
Chang. music_Thier ry
Gauthier ; Delphine
Measroch
Fluid transfer, Collecting Rivers.
Niclas Hallberg, Sweden 2008
The ampoule with water from the
river Tamis, is part of
Collecting Rivers, a project
run now for several years by
the artist Vera Stevanovic
from Belgrade, Serbia. Vera
distributes the ampoules to
several people who can
choose and document what
they do with it as part of her
project. Niclas has made the
piece Fluid Transfer, using
the body as ground,
landscape, nature and the
water from the ampoule as a
water drop, waterfall, river,
ocean in the shape of an
erotic act.
.
Rain.
Simone Stoll, Germany 2008
ʻRainʼ is an
imaginary walk on a
tightrope, a solitary
performance of a woman in
a white blouse walking
barefoot under continuous
rainfall. Slowly, setting foot
after foot, trying not to loose
balance, as she paces
towards a concrete wall.
.
Katoʼs Sky.
Junichiro Shindo, Japan 2008
In Katoʼs Sky and Cigarette Shindo
poses an existential
question: “What are you
living for?” The opening
scene focuses on water as
cloud vapor unnaturally
moving across the sky at
high speeds, and then
transitions into the lone
young man spinning in
circles in a barren, snow
covered field. The glowing
ash of Katoʼs cigarette
inches up to the teasing,
ambiguous inscription, “ I
will” that symbolically
suggests the solution for
world water crisis must
begin with a commitment by
each individual who “will”
conserve, preserve, and
respect the waters of the
earth.
Not Just Canaries.
Jan Kather , United States 2008
As I began
preparing for the Water
Preserves exhibit, I re-read
Rachel Carsonʼs Silent
Spring, realizing nearly fifty
years ago she saw the death
of birds as the warning sign
for a looming ecological
disaster. Later I read an
Internet research article on
the Environmental Health
Perspectives website titled:
Windblown Lead Carbonate
as the Main Source of Lead
in Blood of Children from a
Seaside Community: An
Example of Local Birds as
“Canaries in the Mine.” Due
to drinking water that had
been laced with windblown
lead carbonate, dead birds
had dropped from the sky in
such numbers that the
community was alerted to
have this phenomena
investigated. My video “Not
Just Canaries” derives from
my increasing awareness
about the invisible dangers
of industrial pollution.
.
Not the Silent Sea.
Video Animation. Alicia Felberbaum, England 2008
Hearing is the primary sense
for marine life, which uses
sound for navigation and
communication. Some
scientists believe the
spreading “acoustic smog”
is essentially blinding
marine life, affecting
feeding, breeding and other
crucial activities. Forget the
notion of the silent deep sea.
The ocean is a noisy place
filled with the sound of
human activity - an aquatic
wilderness that is becoming
urbanized. Noise is a natural
part of life in the oceans, but
human activities have
cranked up the volume
blocking animalsʼ
communication and
disrupting feeding.
.
There and Back.
Alicia Felberbaum, England 2008
An experimental video mixing
multiple genres. A man is
experiencing a world in
severe trauma taking place
in a post-apocalyptic setting.
Although we can see the
consequences of the disaster,
the cause for this situation
are left to the viewerʼs own
interpretation. direction and
editing_Alicia
Felberbaum.
music_Matthijs Vos.
m o m e n t emagazine: http://momentemagazine.com
An online publication on ideas at the intersection between art, design, culture and technology. Lately I
expanded my interests and the moving image became a core focus.
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