Reviewing

Just The Right Height

Keke Hunt

Featuring Ben Mendelewicz, Charlie Diaz

ISSUE in partnership with Harvestworks is pleased to present a preview of a new music video by musician, interdisciplinary artist, and 2023 ISSUE Artist-In-Residence Keke Hunt (Just The Right Height).

Thursday, June 22, 2023 – 7:00 pm

NYU Brooklyn: The Garage

The event will feature the premiere of a music video for the song “I Love Everything” by Just the Right Height conceived in collaboration with artist Ben Mendelewicz. Hunt and Mendelewicz have created this project utilizing human motion transfer to integrate original choreography by Canadian artist Charlie Diaz into an archetypal pop dance routine performed by digitally created avatars. Mentorship provided through the Harvestworks’ Technology Immersion Program for artists (TIP) was instrumental in developing technical components of the video. 

The video will be premiered in NYU Brooklyn’s “Garage” space adjacent to the Jay St. Metrotech Subway stop. The premiere will be accompanied by an introduction from the artist and is followed by a brief reception with refreshments. The video will also be streamable on the ISSUE website for a short period of time. 

Hunt’s Just The Right Height project combines blistering samples and algorithmically arranged fragments of existing songs lyrics, in a vocal-based pop-electronic performance that speaks to the tension between the production of market driven “pop products” and the universal power of pop music. Hunt develops short motifs utilizing recognizable era-specific stock drum samples which reference textures from Top 40 hits and dance music of the last 30 years. Using a standard verse-chorus format, she constructs songs where rhythms are dependent on the vocal cadence and phrasing, inverting the expectation that a vocal should follow the meter of its rhythmic backing. Coarse samples are triggered in real time in correlation with a piercing deadpan delivery. Hunt’s deconstructed lyrics teeter between a complete lack of syntax and salient moments of clarity where essential pop sentiments are distilled.

Through these sonic and conceptual approaches, Hunt examines the reciprocal, ever-changing relationship between pop sonic and visual culture with society’s own self-identity, in a poignant subversion of mainstream music.

Keke Hunt’s residency is supported by Harvestworks’ Technology Immersion Program for artists (TIP) and is part of an ongoing program collaboration between ISSUE and Harvestworks, two organizations that are committed to supporting the creation and presentation of experimental performance practices while sharing resources.

Keke Hunt (b. Atlanta 1989) is musician and interdisciplinary artist whose work spans technology, tattooing, and fashion. Hunt has released numerous record and cassette editions, under the project name Just the Right Height while touring as a mainstay of the contemporary underground music scene. Hunt tattoos at an artist-run tattoo shop called Musiquarium. Her influential and idiosyncratic tattoo work is documented in her book Collectors’ Lament released by Paris-based press Numero Dix. Hunt recently exhibited 5 years of works on paper at Whaam! Gallery in Chinatown. Hunt is currently working on her third album I Love Everything to be released with HAORD records.

Founded by artists in 1977, Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center is a leader in the art and technology field, educating, commissioning and producing work by composers, sound, visual and multi-disciplinary artists that reach an ever-expanding and receptive audience. 

Produced by Harvestworks, The Art and Technology Program on Governors Island is centered on art works created at the intersection of art and technology. It includes artists’ open studios, experimental music performances, exhibitions of digital media art, public workshops and our educational research library.  Our goal is to provide exhibition opportunities to electronic media artists and also to educate the public about new technology and how artists use it for artistic expression. 

ISSUE Project Room’s Artist-in-Residence program is made possible, in part, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and with the support of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Keke Hunt

Keke Hunt (born 1989, Atlanta GA) is the interdisciplinary sound and
visual artist behind the Just The Right Height moniker, based in Queens, New York.
Just The Right Height is the sonic extension of Hunt’s decade plus of work
investigating pop tropes and their thematic narratives. In that time Just The Right
Height has released numerous records and cassette editions, while touring as a
mainstay of the contemporary D.I.Y music scene and cross participating in wide
swaths of underground culture around fashion, tattooing, and contemporary art.
Notable touring ventures include outings with Via App, Sapphogheist, and Odwalla
1221. Just The Right Height is currently working on her third full length album, set
to be released on HAORD Records. “Permanent Jewelry”, Hunt’s second publication,
documenting her innovative and idiosyncratic tattoo work is set to be released in
tandem with an exhibition of five years of works on paper.

Ben Mendelewicz

Ben Mendelewicz is a digital artist whose works closely connect and relate to his personal ideologies and worldviews. Displayed through Google stock photos, Ben’s art usually delves into topics with more substance and complex themes. The long process of creating these highly saturated images is met with hours of searching for photos, relying on Google’s algorithms for optimization.

Charlton “Charlie” Diaz

Charlton Diaz lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Their interest in film and visual art began through making comparisons with dance choreography and film editing. They also acted in home videos and skateboarding videos made by their brothers at a young age. They self-trained through observing music videos and then performing at school and local talent shows. This led to professional work in live performance, music videos, and art film. Diaz’s goal in creating art is to honor and celebrate the inner world and also to find new ways to translate and share imagination and emotion in hopes of allowing others to look inside and see value in their own world.