Signal

A new interdisciplinary collaboration by Stephanie Maxwell and Peter Byrne (filmmakers), David Saroff (astrophysicist), and Elizabeth Kelly (composer)

Premiere live music and film performance!

Friday, May 18, 2012 at 7:30pm

EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center), Rensselaer Institute of Technology, Troy, New York

Music performed by Dogs of Desire (David Alan Miller, Conductor, Albany Symphony Orchestra)

"What is one person's Signal is another person's noise....The music for Signal features sharp contrasts of dynamics, register, timbre and texture that embody the dramatic unpredictability of our Sun star. Solar visualizations are made up of distinct image sequences that relate to one another through their perceived common attributes. Mesmerizing time-lapse sequences taken of the Sun by the Solar Dynamics Observatory Satellite (a joint project of the US NASA agency and Europe's sister agency, the European Space Agency, ESA) show its light thrown off in both the ultraviolet and x-ray spectrums. Our Sun star appears turbulent and chaotic. Zooming up on these Sun images reveals distinct features like tornadoes, dynamic curves and arches, and lightning-like flashes. These features are not the same substances on Earth, like wind, water, and fire, but their behaviors seem to share some perceivable common expressions. The animated imagery in this work responds to these perceived expressions as charged interplays with painterly forms and spaces. Imagery is transformed in illusory abstractions of motion, light and color that are presented as choreographed sequences and blends of images that respond to the musical ideas, visual impulses, and the learned realities of our Earth's relationship to its Sun Star. One of the most compelling results of the visual expedition is that the perceived chaos we see on the Sun we find here on earth and that that chaos produces parallel impressions that stretch between the Sun and our Earth and may be pleasing to see."

IOTACENTER DVD, "Stephanie Maxwell, Animated Works, 1984-2007"

iotaCenter in Los Angeles has released a DVD compilation of 14 stunningly beautiful and original experimental animations by artist/animator Stephanie Maxwell. Included on this DVD is a new documentary, " The Art Form of Stephanie Maxwell" that presents the artist in her studio at home where she creates her unusual works. This documentary shows clips from her animations to demonstrate concepts and techniques, and the artist and composer Allan Schindler discuss the nature of 'true collaboration' where all artists on a project contribute to a work, from concept through realization. You can learn more about this new DVD and make a purchase online at iotaCenter's Kinetica Video Library and Store.

Animation Bible - A Practical Guide to the Art of Animating from Flipbooks to Flash, FEATURES WRITINGS ON THE WORKS OF STEPHANIE MAXWELL....

Animation Bible by Maureen Furniss covers every aspect of production, from finding a concept, choosing a medium, and creating characters all the way to getting the end result screened and distributed. In addition to traditional cel animation, Furniss also examines direct filmmaking, stop-motion animation, and Flash; includes many color pictures and graphics illustrations. Publisher: Abrams, 340 pp., 2008. ISBN-13: 978-0810995451.

ESSAY ON COLLABORATIVE FILM/MUSIC COMPOSITION BY STEPHANIE MAXWELL AND ALLAN SCHINDLER....

"Animated Image, Animated Music" by Stephanie Maxwell and Allan Schindler is an essay on the authors' personal artistic processes for creating their unique collaborative 'image/music compositions'. The essay is a chapter in the book The Sharpest Point: Animation at the End of Cinema by Chris Gehman and Steve Reineke. Publishers: YYZ Artists' Outlet and the Ottawa International Animation Festival, 288 pp., 2005. ISBN 0-920397-32-8.