Artists with a focus on the disciplines of short film and video are all painfully familiar with the multitude of challenges they face when publicly exhibiting their work in settings outside the traditional theatre or school/church basement. If they choose to project it on the wall of a gallery or museum and there's no special darkened space available in which to display it, their work can be as washed out as a pair of '80s acid jeans. If they present it on a television or external display, they run the risk of ending up in some back corner so lonely and remote that no one will take notice. If audio is absolutely imperative to the integrity of the piece, it can easily get lost in the sound and fury of an opening reception and/or end up competing with the audio of other works, creating an indiscernible cacophony of aural madness. And the annoying list goes on.
However, there are times when film and video do get their deserved due in glorious grandeur without having to be part of a film festival, and tonight's Temporary Resurfacing II event is one of those times.
Temporary Resurfacing II is the second round of a one-night-only happening that debuted back in September 2014. Like its inaugural, tonight's event entails the projection of short film and video on exterior surfaces of buildings—with some works also presented inside—along two blocks of West Historic Mitchell Street in Milwaukee. Unlike the 2014 exhibition, though, this one actually managed to garner much needed funding support from the Milwaukee Arts Board in the form of a $2500.00 grant as well as a substantial donation of visual/audio equipment use and professional staffing from local production company Majic Productions.
Organized by Milwaukee-based artists Demitra Copoulos, Marla Sanvick and Maeve Jackson, Temporary Resurfacing II features 30 works created by 36 regional, national and international artists who are all—wait for it—getting paid. Well stop the presses and give 'em a hearty WHOOT!
Tonight's exhibition brings back several artists who participated in 2014, including Ted Brusubardis—whose piece Pacel Galvu became one of the best short videos I've experienced in many moons when it was shown in an appropriately darkened room at Portrait Society Gallery earlier this year—Adam Carr, Sara Condo, Cathy Cook, Paul Druecke, Kim Miller, Andrew Swant, Wes Tank, Xav Leplae, and co-organizer Marla Sanvick.
Artists new this year are Lily Baldwin, Stephanie Barber, Peter Barrickman, Isaac Brooks, Réka Bucsi, Brent Budsberg, Liz Cambron, Grace Cross, Stephanie Copoulos-Selle, Mark Escribano, Rachel Glass, Jon Horvath, Jane Jerardi, David Najib Kasir, Michael Kautzer, Vika Kirchenbauer, Jenna Knapp, Shana McCaw, Grace Mitchell, Dao Nguyen, Sabrina Ratté, Naomi Shersty, Martin Sulzer, Katherine Trimble, Jason S. Yi, and co-organizer Maeve Jackson.
The exhibition runs tonight, Saturday June 18, 2016, from 8:30PM to 12 midnight on West Historic Mitchell Street, between South 11th and South 9th Streets.
Check out the Temporary Resurfacing website for further details and a handy map. On the site you'll also find a Donation tab, which, according to Copoulos, will remain there after the event so you can say Thank You for a presentation of short film and video done big and beautiful, and show your support for future Resurfacings. There will also be a donation station located on 10th and Mitchell during the event.
(Thanks Demitra!)
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