Urban Video Project presents ‘Ghost/Body’ Sept. 20 in conjunction with Th3: A City-Wide Art Open

Urban Video Project presents ‘Ghost/Body’ Sept. 20 in conjunction with Th3: A City-Wide Art OpenSeptember 14, 2007Erica Blustesblust@syr.edu

The Urban Video Project (UVP) will present “Ghost/Body,” its fourth volume of outdoor multimedia projections on Thursday, Sept. 20, from dusk to 10 p.m. at 444 East Genesee St. (across from the Fayette Firefighter’s Memorial Park).

“Ghost/Body” features the work of Canadian artists Jamie Drouin and Lance Olsen, as well as Japanese artist and composer Suguru Goto. Curator of the show is the Avalanche Collective, an artist group led by three graduate students from Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts: Blake Carrington, Christopher Gianunzio and Colin Todd. The screening kicks off the fall season of UVP, which will feature international artists and coincide with the September, October and November evenings of Th3: A City-Wide Art Open, which is held on the third Thursday of each month.

“We’re very excited about our new season of UVP,” says Carrington. “We have a number of great submissions from Asia, Europe and Canada that we are looking forward to introducing to Syracuse.”

Drouin and Olsen’s work “No(h) Movement” draws inspiration from the Japanese Butoh dance form and is a study in suspension. The figure is caught in a sustained physical gesture with movement coming only from involuntary muscle activity and fatigue. A captivating electronic soundtrack of tonal harmony and noise injects tension into the scene. For more information about Drouin and Olsen, visit http://infrequency.org.

Goto’s piece, “CsO,” explores the interface between the real and virtual human body. It combines text, virtual body models resembling sci-fi medical illustration and performance with a real body in an exploration of this interface between human and computer. For more information about Goto, visit http://suguru.goto.free.fr.

UVP, a public arts initiative seeking to bring art to the streets and buildings of Syracuse, features video and sound in an effort to explore new spaces for contemporary art. It is a platform for the presentation of multimedia artworks, reactivating underutilized urban spaces in the city’s downtown area.

Inspired by Syracuse’s Connective Corridor and Th3: A City-Wide Art Open, UVP is the brainchild of the 40 Below Public Arts Task Force and the Avalanche Collective. Working closely with a number of University and community partners, UVP produces a series of experimental outdoor video projections throughout the year.

The Connective Corridor is an urban entrepreneurial zone linking a vast array of arts and cultural venues, businesses and neighborhoods in Syracuse. Both a place to be and the site of a world-class urban design project, the Connective Corridor is a cultural and economic magnet for the region that engages the city of Syracuse, SU, arts and cultural organizations, and businesses as partners.

The Connective Corridor Shuttle Bus (Centro Route #543) will operate during the fall months on Thursdays from 5-11:40 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 9:40 a.m.-11:40 p.m. The free shuttle service provides a convenient way to travel to cultural events and happenings at SU and in downtown Syracuse, including Th3. A route schedule/map for the Connective Corridor Shuttle Bus is available online at http://connectivecorridor.syr.edu.

For more information on UVP, visit http://urbanvideoproject.org. For more information on the Avalanche Collective, visit http://avalanchecollective.net.