The Women’s Science Fiction Book Club of Greater Los Angeles (WSFBC) will hold “The Intergalactic Discourse,” on Saturday, October 4, 2008 at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) to celebrate The Wonder of Reading, a non-profit agency committed to advancing literacy in Los Angeles public schools.
Before we’re taxed into oblivion to save Wall Street, it’s time to think about saving reading as a priority in local schools. To help promote this cause pronto, The Women’s Science Fiction Book Club of Greater Los Angeles (WSFBC) will hold “The Intergalactic Discourse,” a special event on Saturday, October 4, 2008, from 7:00—10:00 p.m. in the Ahmanson Auditorium at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) celebrating The Wonder of Reading, a non-profit agency committed to advancing literacy in Los Angeles public schools. The occasion takes its title from the WSFBC’s motto, “Committed to enriching the intergalactic discourse.” inspired from speculative mandate of the WSFBC, a forward-thinking collective of LA-based artists, writers, professionals, and activists. The evening’s program will examine the intersections of science fiction, contemporary art and avant-garde music while raising awareness about literacy in our immediate community.
The WSFBC has pulled together the most talented cultural creators from Los Angeles and elsewhere to create a fascinating multimedia program spanning genres and mediums (for full bios, see the following page). “The Intergalactic Discourse” will present a special screening of Bruce Conner’s iconic film “A MOVIE” (1958) from MOCA’s study collection, installations inspired by science fiction from new media curatorial collective, Volume, and the premiere of a sound-light work by internationally-recognized artist, Jeffers Egan. The evening will also spotlight a never-before-seen performance by the L.A.-based ambient duo, Test Shot Starfish, as well as music from the acclaimed multimedia electronic artist/DJ known as Nalepa. Readings, robots and other surprises are in store.
Combining social consciousness and entertainment via the questioning nature of science fiction and contemporary art, “The Intergalactic Discourse” should prove to be a landmark event, investing in the future both of the speculative arts and the significance of keeping reading, literacy, and imagination alive in Los Angeles school curriculums.
SELECTED ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
JEFFERS EGAN
Jeffers Egan’s work defines a new digital aesthetic for Video and Fine Art. Developed entirely with handcrafted, computer based algorithmic processes, Egan’s abstract animations explore the concepts of digital as organism, and software as ecosystem. Addressing the inscription of visual culture in time, Egan’s work suggests new methods of viewership based upon the molecular parameters of Deleuzean “pure perception”. His motion paintings, Live AV performances, and videos have been showcased worldwide at festivals, galleries and museums including Transmediale, Netmage, Dissonanze, Mutek, Cimatics, Interieur Biennale, Walker Art Museum, Guggenheim Bilbao, and the New York Video Festival. Egan’s work has achieved international critical acclaim, nominated for media art awards at the D-Motion, Popkomm and Backup festivals, and hailed as “astounding”(Groove), “beautiful”(New York Times), “fascinating”(Musicwoche), “an extremely provocative multi-media performance with an absolutely unique aesthetic”(KEYS), “a mesmerizing and meditative experience (ArtWeek)” and “the most advanced trip imaginable in the current field of video art.”(De:Bug)
NALEPA
LA-based electronic musician, multimedia artist and mad scientist collector Steve Nalepa combines deep dub bass, glitchy breaks, bioacoustic atmospheres and beautiful sine wave melodies to create his patented brand of ambient glitch dub. Nalepa has produced tracks with such legends as Bill Laswell and Pharoah Sanders, worked with the LA Philharmonic, shared a bill with Amon Tobin and DJ Spooky at Walt Disney Concert Hall, rocked Flavorpill’s “Friday’s Off the 405” Series at the Getty Museum and performed on The Do Lab Stage at Coachella 2007. Nalepa is one of the artists featured in Visionaire 53 SOUND project, which includes 100 original sound pieces by David Byrne, U2, Danger Mouse, Dan The Automator, Yoko Ono and more. Nalepa’s long-anticipated Flatlands CD/DVD project drops this fall featuring videos from some of the world’s top video artists including Benton-C Bainbridge, Johnny Dekam and Brian Kane of EBN fame alongside remixes from an all-star lineup that features The Glitch Mob, Nosaj Thing, [a]pendics.shuffle, Ruxpin, Deru and more. When he’s not in the lab or rocking dancefloors together with Tokyo-based MattB as Bass Science, Nalepa can be found teaching Ableton Live, ProTools and Reason to the students in his Principles of Music Technology classes at Chapman University Conservatory of Music.
TEST SHOT STARFISH
Test Shot Starfish is Kyle Schember and Ryan Stuit, an experimental multimedia entity known for turning electronic music from underground club gigs into outdoor performance art. The duo mix ambient textural landscapes with glitchy mathematical beats and images, both nostalgic and otherworldly. Their elaborate live performances—which include original compositions, video projection, lighting and lasers—have gained them notoriety on the Dallas and L.A. music scenes. Test Shot Starfish’s hypnotic show has been showcased at venues such as the Hollywood Knitting Factory, Hangar 1018, Arcadia Theater, Barnsdall Art Park, and the Sunset Room. On stage, the duo fuses myriad styles and influences, including the Orb, Orbital, Plaid, Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada resulting in an eclectic blend of electronica, techno and ambient music that inspires a sensory experience. Their latest project is the upcoming self-titled debut album that is being released on Kanpai Records, a sub-label of the Domo Music Group. In addition, Kyle & Ryan work on numerous external projects for other artists, including Lenny Kravitz, Coldplay, Gus Gus and Snoop Dogg; Sony’s acidplanet.com also recently hooked up with Test Shot Starfish for a remix contest. Amidst the prizes was a set of AudioCubes, a sound design tool that Kyle and Ryan have been experimenting with in the cozy confines of their studio: a converted airplane hangar.
VOLUME
Founded in 2007 by Ed Patuto (San Francisco) and Robert Crouch (Los Angeles), VOLUME functions as a catalyst for interdisciplinary new media work through exhibitions, performances, events, lectures, and publications. Concentrating on the nexus of music and visual arts practices ranging from the avant-garde to popular culture, VOLUME offers unique opportunities for artists to create and present hybrid works.
In the last eighteen months, VOLUME has presented seven events: three in Los Angeles at UCLA’s Hammer Museum, one in New York at Monkeytown and three in San Francisco at the San Francisco Art Institute and SF Camerawork. VOLUME has worked with a broad selection local, national, and international artists including Carsten Nicolai, Carl Stone, Sawako, William Basinski, David Kwan, Frank Bretschneider, Matmos, Richard Chartier, Steve Roden, Semiconductor, and Skoltz_Kolgen. In addition, it has commissioned two limited edition CD/DVDs.
BRUCE CONNER (1933 – 2008)
Bruce Conner, sculptor, filmmaker, and seminal figure of the San Francisco Beat scene, created collaged imagery using moldable media, more so than multi-media. His sculptures and films feature found, everyday objects recomposed in critique of commercial media and mainstream American consumerism. Even sound was available for a new translation. Conner collaborated with numerous musicians, including Terry Riley, Patrick Gleeson, DEVO, Brian Eno and David Byrne. In 2000, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis organized “2000 BC: The Bruce Conner Story, Part II”, a major retrospective exhibition of Conner’s works which was also presented at MOCA.
“A MOVIE” (1958) is Conner’s first film and considered his most famous work. The experimental 16mm film is an assemblage of found footage, taken from B-movies, newsreels, soft-core pornography, novelty short films, and other sources, to a musical score featuring Respighi’s The Pines of Rome. In 1991, “A MOVIE” was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Bruce Conner passed away in July of this year. He is survived by his wife, American artist Jean Sandstedt Conner, and his son, Robert.
