Reviewing

POE (…and the museum of lost arts)

Elise Kermani

Featuring Rinde Eckert, Theo Bleckmann, Pamela Z

An experimental performance film, a collaboration between more than 30 artists from New York’s downtown dance, music and film scene directed by MiShinnah Production’s Artistic Director, Elise Kermani, POE […and the museum of lost arts] is part fiction, part historical, and part documentary. A fictional, time-traveling Charles Baudelaire recites Edgar Allan Poe’s biography in his own words in a theater remodeled after the 19th century Barnum Museum lecture hall. Baudelaire is assisted by Techne, who guides him in his lecture. RSVP only, Reception precedes and Q&A follows with members of the cast and crew.

POE (…and the museum of lost arts)

Elise Kermani
Fri, March 9th 2012, 7-9pm
FREE, please RSVPLocation:
Harvestworks – www.harvestworks.org
596 Broadway, #602 | New York, NY 10012 | Phone: 212-431-1130
Subway: F/M/D/B Broadway/Lafayette, R Prince, 6 Bleeker

You are invited to a 5.1 surround sound focus screening of POE […and the museum of lost arts] at Harvestworks Media Arts Center. Reception precedes and Q&A follows with members of the cast and crew. This event is free but donations of any size are still being accepted at the USA Projects. Join our community and help us finish this project! Seating is limited, admission by reservation only (no walk ins) RSVP to email [ show.poe@gmail.com] with the names in your party, and contact phone number.

http://www.elisekermani.com/poe.htmlAbout the project:

POE […and the museum of lost arts] is part fiction, part historical, and part documentary.
An experimental performance film, a collaboration between more than 30 artists from New York’s downtown dance, music and film scene directed by MiShinnah Production’s Artistic Director, Elise Kermani.
Filmed at various locations in New York State including the deteriorating Bannerman Castle on the Hudson River, Brooklyn’s Litchfield Manor, the Poe Cottage in the Bronx and Lower Manhattan’s 3LD Art and Technology.
A fictional, time-traveling Charles Baudelaire recites Edgar Allan Poe’s biography in his own words in a theater remodeled after the 19th century Barnum Museum lecture hall. Baudelaire is assisted by Techne, who guides him in his lecture.
The cinematic audience is the final layer in a ‘film within films’ in this performance art piece.
The POE Project expresses a regret at loss of the physical, the loss of film, of live performance, of acoustic sound, and foreshadows our ultimate merge with the digital medium.

Credits

The all-star cast includes Rinde Eckert (Charles Baudelaire), Theo Bleckmann (Edgar Allan Poe) and Pamela Z (Techne-goddess of invention). These stellar singer/performers were joined by puppeteer/dancers Luis Tentindo (Roderick/Stage Hand) and Laurel Tentindo (Eliza and Virginia Poe). The music was written and performed by the above singers and Elise Kermani (electronics) in collaboration with instrumentalists Kevin James (trombone), David First (guitar) and Tom Chiu (violin).  Other important collaborators include: Stefanie Koseff (video design), Barbara Kilpatrick  (still photography), Melli Hoppe (unit director), Ivaylo Getov (cinematography), Solomon Weisbard (lighting), Alex Smolowe (editor), Natasha Kermani (director of post production), and Nashwa Zaman (sound editing), Vlad Kucherov (color) and Paul Geluso (sound mastering). Amelia Saul is our design manager.

Elise Kermani – Biography

Independent intermedia and sound artist Elise Kermani has presented her work nationally and internationally at venues such as The Kitchen, P.S. 122, Roulette, DiverseWorks, Cleveland Performance Art Festival, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Randolph St. Gallery, Texas Gallery, and festivals in Europe including Turning Sounds in Warsaw, Poland,Fraunkulterfestival in Regensberg, Germany and Hor-Fest in Stainach, Austria.  Kermani has composed several scores for choreographer Vicky Shick including Undoing (2003) and Repair (2005), Plum House (2007), Glimpse (2009) andNot Entirely Herself (2011)  – traveling and performing in Budapest in 2009 and Dublin in 2010. In addition to writing scores for dance Kermani has also created several audio designs for visual artist Barbara Kilpatrick including Venus Hum, a DVD installation which was installed at the New Arts Program Exhibition in March, 2006, and Keep Sake at the Acram Opera House, in August, 2008. She has also created sound scores for Austrian visual artist Evelin Stermitz including Blue House (2009), Silence (2010) and Into the Mirror (2011). In the 1990’s she could be seen performing her solo multimedia work Private Eye/Public Hand (1993), Artem(Is) Rising (1993); and singing with the avant pop ensemble Trousers.  Her 2008 film/theatre project JOCASTA (www.elisekermani.com/jocasta.html) is a modern retelling of the Oedipus Cycle filmed on location in an abandoned barn in upstate New York and will screen at the AGON international meeting of archeological film in Athens, Greece in May, 2012. Kermani received her PhD in media philosophy from the European Graduate School in 2007 and her book Sonic Soma:Sound, Body and the Origin of the Alphabet, published by Atropos Press in 2009, is available on amazon.com.

Elise Kermani

Elise Kermani is a sound media artist based out of New York City and Delmar, New York. She is the creator and artistic director of MiShinnah Productions, a company dedicated to promoting collaborative cross-genre artwork. Most recently, MiShinnah has produced three projects: JOCASTA, POE, and Iphigenia: Book of Change (the last of which is still in-progress). Inspired by magical realism, these pieces mix ancient stories with modern sensibilities. There is little interest in precise historical accuracy; the inspiration merely comes from old stories with universal themes. History, however, is essential: as the foundation for the times we now live in. Fascinated by origins, Kermani wishes to explore where things come from and how differing time periods might relate to one another. Kermani is primarily interested in adapting classic material and crafting her own unique, modernized interpretations; her projects consistently feature strong elements of music and dance. Particularly prevalent in the work is the idea of collage; not necessarily two-dimensional collage, but the layering of time itself, expanding a story back into the past and also forward into the present. Using varying levels of sound and fragmented visuals to comprise diverse, experimental performance pieces, Kermani aims to evoke a trance-like state—hypnotizing and even submerging a viewer within a strange new world. The music (much of which is composed by Kermani herself) is “post-modern,” emerging as a kaleidoscope of noise, a comingling of every kind of sound imaginable. Kermani’s passion is collaboration: with musicians, composers, performers, visual artists and dancers. Regularly arranging music for and overseeing other people’s work, Kermani is always looking for new collaborations, admiring the skills others have in their particular fields. So many things happen in each piece—adding to the collage, layered feeling—it’s almost too much to take in all at once. Because the work is non-linear, viewers should be given the choice to step back, divert their attention, and maybe not even watch the entire thing. Kermani does not consider herself a straight-up filmmaker, thus her pieces should not be surveyed as straight-forward movies; she is a visual and audio artist. She seeks to blur the lines between live performance and film, breaking the fourth wall, shattering the ritual, and pushing fantastical stories forth into reality. Kermani received a PhD in Media and Communications from the European Graduate School, and currently teaches Media Arts at SUNY/Empire State College. Her book “SonicSoma: Sound Body and the Origins” of the Alphabet is available at Amazon.com

Rinde Eckert

Charles Baudelaire

Theo Bleckmann

Edgar Allan Poe

Luis Tentindo

Roderick/Stage Hand

Laurel Tentindo

Eliza and Virginia Poe

Kevin James

trombone

David First

David First has been studying and exploring psycho-acoustical
phenomena, drone musics, sacred mathematics and secret harmonic relationships for
more than 25 years. For the past ten years he has been using a unique spherical
tuning system he has developed based on the Schumann resonances (the hum of the
Earth) and for the last three he has implemented all he has learned in the service
of a monthly drone and acupuncture collaboration at Worksong Chinese Medicine in
Greenpoint, Brooklyn with acupuncturists Isobeau Trybula and Kate Henderson. First
has received many grants and awards for his work including those from the National
Endowment for the Arts, the Aaron Copland Foundation, Meet the Composer
Commissioning USA, and the prestigious Foundation for the Contemporary Arts Grant to
Artists.

Tom Chiu

Riveting with his incredible technique and mastery of the instrument,” (JG Thirlwell) violinist Tom Chiu–noted for his broad contributions to contemporary music and sound art–has premiered over 200 works by influential musicians such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Virko Baley, David Chesky, David First, Fast Forward, Leroy Jenkins, Oliver Lake, Wadada Leo Smith, Alvin Lucier, Michael Schumacher, and Henry Threadgill. He has also shared the stage with such musical luminaries as Ornette Coleman, Jessye Norman, and Paul McCartney, among others. As a composer/improviser, Chiu has collaborated with artists working in a variety of disciplines, including choreographers Pam Tanowitz and Eun-Me Ahn, film/video artists Phill Niblock and Ken Jacobs, vocalists Jaap Blonk and Thomas Buckner, balloonist Judy Dunaway, visual artist Matthew Barney, and theater troupe Mabou Mines. Chiu is thrilled to collaborate once again with the OpenEnded Group on Blackletter, after prior projects with OEG commissioned by EMPAC, the Museum of the Moving Image, and the Gardner Museum.

As founder of the FLUX Quartet, Chiu has led an influential new-music ensemble which has become “legendary for its furiously committed, untiring performances.” 

Stefanie Koseff

video design

Barbara Kilpatrick

still photography

Melli Hoppe

unit director

Ivaylo Getov

cinematography

Solomon Weisbard

lighting

Alex Smolowe

editor

Natasha Kermani

director of post production

Nashwa Zaman

sound editing

Vlad Kucherov

color

Paul Geluso

Paul Geluso is a sound engineer, musician, and educator. He currently
serves as a Music Assistant Professor and the Associate Director of the Music
Technology program at NYU Steinhardt. He also serves as the Studio Director at
Harvestworks Digital Media Arts and co-edited a book titled “Immersive Sound”
published by Focal Press-Routledge. He has been credited on hundreds music titles
including Grammy, Latin Grammy, and Oscar nominated works. Working with
multidisciplinary artists who use sound as a creative medium, his collaborative
works have been exhibited at art institutions internationally. He has received
individual artist grants for his original compositions from the New York State
Council on the Arts, Meet the Composer and was awarded a Creativity + Technology =
Enterprise grant to develop 3D speaker technology. Geluso received a Bachelor of
Science in Electrical Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology and a
Master of Music in Music Technology from New York University.

Amelia Saul

design manager