The
Program for Media Artists (formerly the Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowships) has announced the recipients of this year's Fellowships.
The Program for Media Artists awarded 20 Fellowships of $35,000 each. Two additional fellowships of $7,500 each acknowledge emerging artists working in film and video.
Genevieve Anderson, Los Angeles, CA:
Too Loud a Solitude, a feature film made with puppets about a waste compactor who rescues banned books from the trash and thus exposes the consequences of an oppressive government upon the human spirit. In addition to directing live-action and puppetry films, Anderson has also produced, directed, performed and designed for theater.
Kenneth Anger, Los Angeles, CA:
Mouse Heaven, an experimental short reflecting on the iconic power of Mickey Mouse and commenting on the cultural and sentimental value placed on commercial merchandise. Anger has made experimental 16 mm films for more than 60 years. The author of several books, including
Hollywood Babylon, he is currently working on his memoirs.
James Benning, Val Verde, CA:
13 Lakes, an experimental meditation on nature, offering portraits of 13 different lakes throughout the United States. Benning has made experimental films for more than 30 years. A 1993 Media Arts Fellowship recipient, he is a professor at the California Institute of the Arts and Bard College.
Natalie Bookchin, Los Angeles, CA:
agoraXchange, an experiment in online collaboration -- the goal is to collectively build a multiplayer game that offers "a tangible political alternative to our current world order." Bookchin teaches at the California Institute of the Arts. Her work focuses on the Internet as both a distribution medium and as subject matter.
Andrew Garrison, Austin, TX:
Between Earth and Sky, a narrative about a Mexican-American police detective investigating the death of 19 illegal immigrants as they cross the Mexico-U.S. border. Garrison's documentaries and narratives have screened at festivals and on public television. He teaches at the University of Texas-Austin.
Sam Green, San Francisco, CA:
The Universal Language, a documentary about global utopian vision through the lens of Esperanto, the universal language created in the 19th century to end cultural conflicts. Green's recent documentary
The Weather Underground was nominated for a 2004 Academy Award. He teaches at the University of San Francisco.
Helen Hill, New Orleans, LA:
The Florestine Collection, an animated short reflecting on handcrafted work and race in New Orleans, through the personal story of a woman who made hand-sewn dresses. Hill's animated films have screened widely. She teaches filmmaking and animation to grade school through college students.
Donald Howard, Austin, TX:
Police and Thieves, a narrative set in the early 1980s about three Texas kids and the impact of the Reagan administration on their lives. Howard's documentaries have been widely screened and broadcast. He is a senior lecturer at the University of Texas-Austin.
Philip Mallory Jones, Hamilton, NY: The multimedia design for
The Vo-Du Macbeth, a retelling of Shakespeare's
Macbeth set in New Orleans. Jones, a 1994 Fellowship recipient, has created interactive digital work, multi-media performance, video installation, sculpture, films and videos for the past three decades.
Veronica Majano, San Francisco, CA:
Remember Los Siete, an experimental documentary about the seven Central American young men from San Francisco's Mission District falsely accused of killing a white undercover police officer in 1969. Majano is an artist-in-residence at the Proyecto Contra SIDA Por Vida Basta, which works with lesbians of color to use art, writing and film as a means of community activism.
Julia Meltzer and David Thorne, Los Angeles, CA:
Material Support, an experimental documentary exploring the "war on terror" through documents -- both found and created -- that speculate on how these documents impact domestic and foreign policy. Meltzer and Thorne work collaboratively on the
Speculative Archive -- installations, films and presentations that critique government policies and the shaping of the public understanding of current events.
Keith Obadike and Mendi Obadike, Hamden, CT:
Digital Debs Do The World Wide Waltz, a Web-based project and physical installation that uses the idea of the black debutante ball to explore the "African-American relationship to formality." Keith and Mendi Obadike -- a husband-and-wife team -- have collaborated as Internet artists since the late 1990s. Their work has been exhibited and performed in the U.S. and Europe.
Will Rogan, Albany, CA:
Miss Ann Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama, a video installation exploring how history informs and shapes our reactions through the first documented case (in 1954) of a person hit by a meteorite. Rogan's video installations, photographs and sculptures have screened and exhibited in galleries nationwide and abroad.
Scott Sona Snibbe, San Francisco, CA:
Christian Science Interactive Narratives, an interactive video installation that draws upon the tradition of 19th-century magic lantern and shadow theaters to explore the Christian Scientist idea of healing oneself through thought. Snibbe's work, which directly engages the body of the viewer in a reactive system, has been shown internationally.
Elisabeth Subrin, Brooklyn, NY:
Up, a narrative about a woman working in an Internet company; her struggle with bi-polar disorder echoes the way companies boom and subsequently crash. Subrin's work has screened widely. She is currently a Visiting Lecturer in Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University.
Va-Megn Thoj, St. Paul, MN:
American Soil, a documentary about a Hmong refugee family's struggle to make a living through small-scale farming in Minnesota, exploring immigration, assimilation and cultural survival. Va-Megn makes films about the Hmong and Asian American community. He is a founding member of the Center for Hmong Arts & Talent, a nonprofit community arts organization.
Steina Vasulka, Santa Fe, NM:
Interactive Sampler. Further development of the artist's live performances involving video images and her 5-string MIDI violin, and interactive installations. Steina Vasulka is a music and video artist, originally from Iceland, who has lived and worked in the United States since 1965. She received a Media Arts Fellowship in 1990.
Woody Vasulka, Santa Fe, NM:
Brotherhood Completed, the next stage of a project exploring male identity will allow individuals to virtually, and at a distance, interact with the robotic art constructions. Woody Vasulka was born in the Czech Republic, studied film in Prague and relocated to the United States in 1965. He co-founded The Kitchen in New York with his wife Steina Vasulka.
Travis Wilkerson, Los Angeles, CA:
Who Killed Cock Robin?, an experimental narrative about a young man living in Butte, Montana whose life echoes that of Butte's (and America's) industrial decline. Wilkerson co-founded
extremelowfrequency, a digitally based micro-distributor of radical cinema and culture.
Stephen Wilson, San Francisco, CA:
Guests, Parasites and Symbionts, an interactive installation that investigates the ethics of animal and human experimentation by allowing participants to engage with live organisms derived from their own bodies. Wilson worked as an anthropologist before turning to art and technology in the 1980s. His work explores
artificial intelligence and the intersection between art and biology.
The two emerging artist to receive fellowships this year, both of whom have been among
Filmmaker's "25 New Faces of Independent Film," are:
Shari Frilot, Los Angeles, CA:
H20, a narrative about western society's assumption of the infinite abundance of fresh water, and its impact on life, love, delusion, and mortality politics. Frilot's films and installations have screened widely. She is a programmer with the Sundance Film Festival.
Ellie Lee, Newton, MA:
The Road Home, a narrative about a Chinese-American daughter and her immigrant father's travels to mainland China, where his struggles with Alzheimer's become an allegory for collective loss of memory and shared history. Lee's award-winning films have screened widely. She is currently directing a new national educational children's series for PBS.
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posted by Steve Gallagher @ 7/28/2004 12:14:00 PM
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