[spectre] November 15: Scarlet(t) at the Clocktower Gallery, New York

[mattyo]

On Tues., Nov. 15, 2011 at 6pm the Clocktower will screen Matthew Ostrowski's Scarlet(t), a single-channel 90-minute video work, a re-synthesis of the middlebrow Hollywood romance Girl with a Pearl Earring, and a systems-based attempt to isolate the 'latent' content of this popular film.

This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6pm, screening begins at 6:30. No one will be admitted after 7pm. The Clocktower Gallery is at 108 Leonard Street, 13th Floor. Bring a photo ID. For information call 212-233-1096.

This project uses processes of reduction and filtering, emptying the movie of the superflous adornment of its story, and reducing it to one such signifier. Using a tracking algorithm, Girl with a Pearl Earring is reduced to its most crucial token – Scarlett Johanssen's scarlet lips. The remainder of the image is obscured, leaving only occasional flashes when she is offscreen – the wandering eye searching for its object of desire. The audio of the film is processed likewise, based on the same data used by the tracker, stretching, squeezing and positioning the sonic content of the movie based on the size and location of Scarlett's lips on the screen at any given moment.

Extracting this one signifier, Scarlett's famous mouth, wrenches the true subject of the movie – her lips, and their erotic juxtapositions – out of the extravagant context of the costume drama in which it is cushioned. The entire film, both sonically and visually, is thus in some way squeezed through it's primary feature, the point to which our eyes are drawn: the inaccessible eroticism of the star.

Concept, programming, editing: Matthew Ostrowski
Programming consultant: R. Luke DuBois
Video postproduction: Hisao Ihara

Scarlet(t) was made possible by the Experimental Television Center's Finishing Funds program.

A New York City native, Matthew Ostrowski is a pioneer in live electronic a, having worked as a composer, performer and installation artist for over 20 years, exploring work with alternative controllers, multimedia, and theater. An unreconstructed formalist, he has had a continuing interest in density of microevents, rapid change, and using technology to stretch the bounds of perception and experience. He has worked with a broad range of artists, from a boatload of international improvisors, to choreographer Elizabeth Streb, to the Flying Karamazov Brothers juggling troupe. He has been a recipient of a NYFA Fellowship in Digital Arts, and has developed audio and video software for dozens of artists in interactive video, extended musical instruments, sound installations, show control systems, and interactive juggling pins.


Announcement link: http://artonair.org/event/scarlett
Facebook invitation: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=282767508421185