Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture

UVP, Light Work Announce Summer Review 2015

Monday, June 8, 2015, By Jessica Posner
Share
Installation view of Cauleen Smith’s “Crow Requiem,” 2015

Installation view of Cauleen Smith’s “Crow Requiem,” 2015

Urban Video Project and Light Work have announced the UVP Summer Review 2015. From mid-June through early September, UVP is screening two programs featuring works from the 2014-2015 “Celestial Navigation: a year into the afro future” program at UVP Everson.

A group program will be on view from June 18-July 4 and July 23-Sept. 5. The group program will include the following works played on a continuous loop: “Isaac Julien: Western Union: Small Boats (The Leopard),” “Sanford Biggers: Shuffle & Shake,” “Jeannette Ehlers: Black Bullets,” and “Cauleen Smith: Crow Requiem.” Due to its longer duration, “Xaviera Simmons: Number Sixteen” will be screened for a limited, solo review screening from July 9 18. Screenings take place every Thursday through Saturday from dusk to 11 p.m. at UVP Everson, located at the Everson Museum of Art, 401 Harrison St., Syracuse, N.Y.

Isaac Julien: “Western Union: Small Boats (The Leopard)”

“Western Union: Small Boats (The Leopard)” is a single-channel edit of Julien’s 2007 “WESTERN UNION: Small Boats,” which premiered at the 67th Venice Film Festival. “WESTERN UNION: Small Boats” concerns journeys made across the seas of the Mediterranean by so-called “clandestines” who leave Libya, escaping wars and famines. They can be seen as economic migrant workers, along with certain Europeans—“Angels” in Walter Benjamin’s terms—who bear witness to modernity’s failed hopes and dreams, and who now travel across oceanic spaces, some never to arrive or return. Shot on 35mm film and transferred to digital video, “WESTERN UNION: Small Boats” forms the final installment of his compelling “Expeditions” trilogy, which includes “True North” (2004) and “Fantôme Afrique” (2005).

Sanford Biggers: “Shuffle & Shake”

A scene from Sanford Biggers' "Shake"

A scene from Sanford Biggers’ “Shake”

“Shuffle” and “Shake” form the first two parts of Biggers’ Odyssean trilogy about the formation and dissolution of identity. “Shuffle” explores the struggle between our own perception of self vs. others’ projections onto us. “Shuffle” also examines how we matriculate through society, often masking our insecurities, pain, longing and the internal schizophrenia of the id. The original soundtrack is composed from the artist’s field recordings made in Indonesia. Both videos feature Ricardo Camillo—a Brazil-born, Germany-based choreographer, stuntman, clown and DJ. In “Shake,” the second video of the trilogy, Camillo walks from the favelas (or shantytowns) of Brazil, to the ocean before finally transforming into an androgynous silver-skinned figure. Biggers’ imagery and narrative simultaneously reference Greek mythology and the quintessential afrofutrist aesthetics of Parliament Funkadelic.

Jeannette Ehlers: “Black Bullets”

Ehlers’ haunting 2012 video piece, “Black Bullets,” is inspired by the Haitian Revolution of 1791, which led to the creation of the world’s first black republic. Filmed on location at La Citadelle in Haiti, the piece is a tribute to the act of revolt.

Cauleen Smith: Crow Requiem

Crows have a mythological reputation as tricksters and harbingers of death, but the reality is that they are creatures of remarkable intelligence who lead complex social lives. Smith became fascinated by these misunderstood animals when she noticed the massive flock of crows roosting outside her bedroom window during her artist residency at Light Work in Syracuse. She learned that the native population of crows circulates between Syracuse and nearby Auburn, and that this migration is partly in response to harassment and, at times, state-sanctioned violence at the hands of a human population that views them as a nuisance. Smith interweaves the figure of the crow through the histories of these two cities, both of which were key stations on the Underground Railroad and innovators in early cinematic and 3D optical technologies. “Crow Requiem” connects this history to recent and ongoing violence against people of color at the hands of the state. Shot on location in Central New York, and featuring selections from Onondaga Historical Association’s extensive archive of 19th century stereoscopic images.

Xaviera Simmons: “Number Sixteen”

“Number Sixteen” is an hour-long, unedited video documenting a performance produced without an audience that engages endurance, abstraction and the energies beneath abstraction. In the video, a vocalist and performer work together in a studio space. The video’s audience becomes witness to a layered convergence: materials and texts, script and chance, sound and image, time and space, the body and its limits. Like the photographic and sculptural works in “Accumulations,” “Number Sixteen” reveals a complex network of accumulated inspirations, cultural allusions and visceral histories.

 

  • Author

Jessica Posner

  • Recent
  • Turning Gratitude Into Opportunity
    Friday, March 5, 2021, By Dan Bernardi
  • University Selected to Host Hult Prize Regional Competition
    Friday, March 5, 2021, By Cristina Hatem
  • Message From Chancellor Kent Syverud
    Thursday, March 4, 2021, By News Staff
  • Final Report of the Board Special Committee on University Climate, Diversity and Inclusion
    Thursday, March 4, 2021, By News Staff
  • Burton Blatt Institute Hosts Poetry Reading
    Thursday, March 4, 2021, By News Staff

More In Arts & Culture

Turning Gratitude Into Opportunity

During the college experience, pivotal interactions and opportunities present themselves that shape a student’s future. For some, it may be an internship that introduces them to their future line of work. For others, it might be a specific class that…

Burton Blatt Institute Hosts Poetry Reading

The Office of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach at the Burton Blatt Institute welcomes critically acclaimed poet, torrin a. greathouse, for a virtual poetry reading on Thursday, March 25, from 7-8 p.m. ET. greathouse, transgender and cripple-punk, is a recipient of…

Community Folk Art Center: A Welcoming Place for All to Discover Art, Culture and Community

The Community Folk Art Center (CFAC) has been a vital part of the University and city for nearly 50 years—a hub of art, cultural understanding and community. “CFAC is a bridge between the Syracuse University community and the local community,…

Community Folk Art Center Launches Black Arts Speak Film Series

The Community Folk Art Center (CFAC) celebrates Black lives and voices in a new short film series, Black Arts Speak (BAS). Each episode of the series will feature a different Black artist and share their work, experiences and perspectives. To mark…

School of Architecture Professor Wins a 2021 Emerging Voices Award

Lori A. Brown, professor in the School of Architecture, is among the eight selected winners to receive a 2021 Emerging Voices award from The Architectural League of New York. Each year, the award spotlights individuals and firms based in the…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2021 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.