bau twenty-one
With contributions by
Neil Alexander – composer, musician
Neil Ira Needleman – video artist
Guest Artist: Alexis Elton – installation
“A Distinct Reception” - Sat, Sept 9.....7 – 9 pm
“A Deconstructive Reading” - Sat, Oct 7..... 5 pm
“Performance Neil Alexander” - Sat, Sept 30..... 5 pm
bau – beacon artist union
161 Main Street
Beacon, NY 12508
845 440 7584 / bauinfo@optonline.net
www.beaconartistunion.com
Gallery Hours: Sat/Sun 12-6pm & by appt.
From September 9 to October 8, 2006 Harald Plochberger, co-founder and member of bau will be presenting “bau 21: neXXXt – In The Waiting Room”, an installation in the artist collective’s Main Gallery.
“neXXXt”, a conceptual continuation of Mr. Plochberger’s kaleidoscopic “Dog & Pony Show” installation, his previous summer’s project, coheres by four artists’ contributions working in different media.
Neil Alexander, musician and composer, will provide recorded sound tapestry especially designed for this project, based on Bach’s “Goldberg Variations”. It will be the acoustic component of “neXXXt”.
Neil will be performing live at bau on September 30.
“Rubber Bands” – a loop from his found-footage video series “Unfocused”, represents video artist’s Neil Ira Needleman’s contribution.
Alexis Elton will convert bau’s Backroom Gallery into an olfactory, sense oriented installation, following her own associations and interpretation of the concept.
“All man's unhappiness derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone”
Blaise Pascal, French mathematician and philosopher, 1670.
Harald Plochberger’s installation “neXXXt – In The Waiting Room” expanding into bau’s Main Gallery, and a composite of various elements will contain spatial structures, crossword puzzles, variations on prime numbers, a coloring storybook, and real models. The three dimensional collage will be serving as the backdrop for two conceptually integrated performances within the exhibition – “A Distinct Reception” on Saturday, September 9, and
“A Deconstructive Reading” on Saturday, October 7.
Harald Plochberger says: “bau as an independent collective with an exhibition space operated by its members provides the perfect stage for my multi-disciplinary projects. “neXXXt – In The Waiting Room”, my forthcoming show – bau’s 21st already since it’s foundation in November 2004 - will be a conglomerate of visual and performing arts, and music, dealing with man’s exposure to distraction. “A Distinct Reception”, integral to the meta structure of the concept, will take place only once, as a projected interaction between space, exhibits and audience during the opening of the show. “A Deconstructive Reading” will include texts by authors such as Carl von Clausewitz, Groucho Marx, Simone de Beauvoir, Charles Willeford, Elias Canetti, Sigmund Freud and others – and action.
I am very grateful for Neil Alexander’s and Neil Ira Needleman’s participation, both artists already well known to the bau community due to their acclaimed music/video presentations. Guest artist Alexis Elton’s installation will be a surprising site specific project in bau’s Backroom Gallery.”
photo harald plochberger - teodul gletscher, switzerland, 1992STATEMENT
I am an interdisciplinary artist, and painter -
concerned with the exploration of structures of mathematics and language that are visually articulated within a geometrically abstract vocabulary. Attracted by the purity of geometry and algebra, these disciplines provide adequate compositional elements for my projects.
In their own context, science, mythology and poetry of Ancient Greece are of major interest to me. I create images and objects utilizing traditional methods of painting and drawing, and current computer technology.
My conceptually oriented projects intend to analyze phenomena in a media and consumer dominated society. Reality, as it is perceived on TV, and in our daily routines, provides the socio-critical and esthetical background for my assemblages, interactive installations, performance arrangements and documentations – sometimes with artificiality contrasting, site specific “live” features as significant components.
Selected Solo Shows
2006 neXXXt - IN THE WAITING ROOM
bau - beacon artist union Beacon, NY
2005 THE DOG AND PONY SHOW
bau – beacon artist union Beacon, NY
2004 YOU MAKE ME HOT
van Brunt Gallery Beacon, NY
2003 TESTES HERAKLES – PRIMZAHLEN - TAGESGERAEUSCH
WUK Projektraum Vienna/Austria
2002 SELECTED FRAGMENTS
Heinke’s Salon Vienna/Austria
2001 HOMAGE TO THE TRIANGLE
Galerie GTK Tulbingerkogel/Austria
2000 THE BEAUTY OF PRIME NUMBERS
St Claire’s Newburgh, NY
Selected Group Shows
2006 WAVES OF LIGHT 3
Hudson, NY
2006 CHANGE OF ALTITUDE
Denver. CO
2006 NOISE
Beacon, NY
2005/06 TRANSITION
Beacon, NY
2005 BULLDOG ARTISTS
Beacon, NY
2005 WAVES OF LIGHT 2
Hudson, NY
2005 ART IN THE LOFT
Millbrook, NY
2005 BAU 5/…STAGES…
Beacon, NY – participating artist and curator
2005 SPAN
Collaborative Concepts Beacon, NY
2005 BAU 1/EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT, NOBODY IS SPECIAL
Beacon, NY
2005 THE SEX SHOW
Viscaya Lounge, Manhattan, NY
2005 GEOMETRY
The Phoenix Gallery Nyack, NY
2005 THIS IS NOT AN ARCHIVE
Bard College, Anandale on Hudson, NY
2004 BIENNIAL GROUP SHOW
Rockland Center for the Arts, West Nyack, NY
2004 GEOMETRIC ABSTRACTION
The Howland Cultural Center Beacon, NY
2004 BULLDOG AND FRIENDS
Collaborative Concepts Beacon, NY - participating artist and curator
2004 TENANTS GROUP SHOW
Bulldog Studios Beacon, NY
2004 THE NEW HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL
van Brunt Gallery Beacon, NY
2003 ANALOG/DIGITAL
van Brunt Gallery Beacon, NY
2003 ART EXPO
Art Center Garnerville, NY
Harald Plochberger lives and works in Ossining and Beacon, New York, USA since1999.
Co founder of the artists’ collective bau – beacon artist union, 2004.
Graduation: Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna 1971.
Graduation: Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna 1977.
Art teacher (High School) 1972 – 1981.
Group show participations since 1968. Solo shows since 1981.
Born1949 - Austria.
Works held by public and private collections in Austria, Switzerland, Germany,
Great Britain, South Africa and in the United States.
Information and contact:
http://www.plochberger.net/
www.haraldplochberger.blogspot.com
http://www.beaconartistunion.com/
http://www.vanbruntgallery.com/
http://www.gtk.at/
www.zsart.at
photo harald plochberger - teodul gletscher, switzerland, 1992
______________________________________
ALEXIS ELTON
http://www.nynarts.com/artists/elton_alexis/index.htm
STATEMENT
My interest lies in finding out how the context of an environment questions human systems and asks what defines a sufficient and efficient household. What we are entitled to in terms of property line and the ambiguity of boundaries? How does co-dependency form within a habitat? Can two entities inhabit the same space?
My work attempts to reveal a dialogue using the placement of structures within a space, by addressing issues of boundary lines. Through generating relationships of land as an entity to human mechanism, the context of an environment is inquired. Exploring cultural and socioeconomic systems and questioning how buildings reflect a social order in an age of mass consumption, are an integral aspect of this dialogue. Like the management of property ownership the work expands or contracts, adjusting itself to an environment. The work lends itself to rediscovering the presences left behind by human interaction. The waste exists; dominating in the ephemeral and aesthetic as well as permanent and toxic.
Commencement speaker @ Pratt at Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute
Utica, NY - May 2006
Exhibitions (selection)
bau21: “neXXXt – In The Waiting Room”, Guest Artist, bau/beacon artist union, Beacon, NY 2006
Foresite-explorations of site/non-site, Van Brunt Gallery, Beacon, NY 2005
Kingston Biennial, Kingston, NY, 2005
Tales from a Dark Alley, 3rd. Rail Studio, New Rochelle, NY, 2005
Via: Beacon, Dye Works Gallery, Garnerville, NY, 2005
The Usual Suspects, Spire Studios, Beacon, NY, 2005
Flock, Spire Studios, Spire Studios, Beacon NY, 2005
Land Grant, Collaborative Concepts Gallery, Beacon, NY 2004
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago BFA exhibition, Chicago, IL, 2003
Group Show, Base Space, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2002
Education
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. BFA with concentration in sculpture, 2003.Associates Degree of Fine Art, Munson Williams Proctor Institute, Utica, NY 2001.
Awards
Special Opportunity Stipend New York Foundation For the Arts, NY 2004Artist in Residence, Collaborative Concepts, Beacon, NY 2004-2005Connecting Communities Leadership Award, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2002 Merit Scholarship award, & Selected works published on the cover of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Merit Scholarship brochure, 2001 Tim McDermid Honors Sculpture Award, Munson Williams Proctor Institute School of Art, Utica, NY, 2001Museum of Munson Williams Proctor Institute Scholarship, Utica, NY, ‘00- 01
Press
Kingston Sculpture Biennial Catalogue, 2005Rivertown, June, 2005
Collections
Jim Soo Kim, Chicago, ILGregory Knight, Chicago, IL
NEIL ALEXANDER – www.pdogrecords.com
Neil Alexander... A Brief History.
Beneath a grand piano taking up most of a Brooklyn apartment bedroom, a teenage Neil Alexander lay in bed realizing that music was his only option in life.
20 years later, with over a dozen recording credits to his name and a major motion picture titled "The Blur Of Insanity" with his score about to be released, he continues to find challenge and excitement in all things music. He is equally at home in the worlds of Jazz, Rock, Funk, Classical, Theater and Modern Dance; has toured extensively with various groups including the now famous Pink Floyd Tribute band called "The Machine," and at the same time continues to push his original band "Nail," a blend of jazz, funk and fusion.After being dubbed "the loudest musician in high school" for cranking up his Fender Rhodes beyond any reasonable level, Neil decided to start his own group. People said he played "like an animal," so he called his band "A. Animal". This strange and unusual blend of Rock and Roll, Killer Jazz fusion and Ornette Coleman – like avant-garde lasted about 2 years out of High School. When the band broke up, he began to search for ways to make money. Before too long he found himself in the world of dance, where he continues to work successfully to this day. Credits include two grants from "Meet the Composer" while working for the dance company "Soundance" (1986-7), as well as composing numerous works for Choreographers Allison Jolly and Wendy Garton. He also became the preferred accompanist for Donald Byrd, Lenore Latimer, and others; and is currently accompanying classes at S.U.N.Y. Purchase Conservatory of Dance with a stylistic range that includes Limon, Cunningham, Grahm, Horton, Hawkins, Ballet, and Improvisation.Through working with various dance companies, he met longtime friend and drummer Mike Cullens, with whom he formed two successful jazz – funk bands: "Solid Juice" with NY session bassist Glenn Grant and "General Disturbance" with bass virtuosi Wayne Hammond.As a result of his new-found ability to work as a musician within other performing art forms (and a chance meeting with master saxophonist Charles Haynes at a solo performance in Park Slope, Brooklyn) he acquired the position of Musical Director with the "Adaptors Movement Theater" (1983-7). For the Adaptors he co-composed two full length off-Broadway shows. The troupe toured Mexico, Canada and the U.S., and Neil prepared a multi-channel ambient sound setup for "Dig ’85," an installation in the Brooklyn Museum (1985). He has continued to work in theater, most recently as Musical Director/Keyboardist for the Centerfield Productions’ dramatic concert tribute titled "Comfortably Numb," based on Pink Floyd’s "The Wall". "Comfortably Numb" toured the eastern U.S. (1994-5). In 1996 he performed (on keyboards) all orchestral arrangements in a recent production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" featuring well known Broadway actors and actresses.Despite his forays in to dance and theater, Neil continues to maintain strictly musical formats as a working professional pianist/keyboardist. In 1986, much to his (and everyone else’s) surprise, A. Animal reformed with it’s original lineup of Louis Magliente (drums) and Conrad De La Cruz (bass). They played and toured for 8 years but only produced one recording, "Overhaul" (1990) produced by Robert Musso. In 1990 he began to play "club dates" and in an effort to be doing something worthwhile, joined various local rock bands. When Conrad left the band in 1993, he kept A. Animal alive as a duo for another year, and then retired to his studio to record his 1996 release "Alone At Last," which showcases his composition and arranging skills as well as his flair for production and engineering. Produced with long time production partners Nita Rae and Ryan Ball, his solo performances on this CD comprise a sonic journey - an instrumental set of music performed primarily by Neil with many special guests.Some of his other contacts were beginning to pay off: Long time friend Peter Wetherbee called him in to play all keyboards on Funkadelic founder Tal Ross’s CD "Detrimental Vasoline/Giant Shirley" (CGRC). The recording credits began to add up: appearances on the works of local artists Frank 'O The Mountain, Mirror, Virginia Dare and most recently 4Front, featuring drummer Joe Bergamini. In 1996 he joined The Machine, a well known tribute band, and played on all of their CD’s as well.Over the years he has recorded and/or performed with a variety of groups and artists such as Gunther Hampel’s jazz ensemble "Time is Now", Charles Haynes, Erik Lawrence and others. He has performed Igor Stravinsky’s "Sacre du Printempts (the Rite of Spring)", as well as works by Charles Ives and John Cage.In 1995, Neil began to teach master classes in analog synthesizer programming and midi performance applications at the S.U.N.Y. Purchase Music Conservatory as part of the Studio Composition Program. He now also conducts music store and high school clinics in sampling, technology and performing.
NEIL IRA NEEDLEMAN
“I was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1957 and learned filmmaking in the alleys of Brooklyn. Somewhere along the way I got lost in a dark tunnel that led me into a career in advertising. Now that I have stumbled into the daylight again, I am rededicating myself to tinkering with motion images. I hope it’s not too late to regain some sort of vision.”
UNFOCUSED / RUBBERBANDS -
Neil Ira Needleman’s contribution for bau21: “neXXXt – In The Waiting Room”.
Neil Ira Needleman says:
“Working with “found footage” can be an exciting and stimulating challenge because you seek to impart your vision on material that was created without consideration of your wishes or needs. In this case, the material consists of a segment from a VHS video of a market research focus group. Everything about this footage is anonymous: the “cast”, the cameraperson, the location, and the company that paid for the research. I like that.
I came across this video footage back in the mid-1980s when I worked for a mid-sized advertising agency in midtown Manhattan. One day, while chatting with the guy who ran our in-house video editing studio, I glanced up at the monitor and saw a scene that caught my interest. It was an empty focus group research room, shot from a locked down camera. The focus group had long been over, but nobody bothered to turn off the camcorder. This scene continued for many minutes before there was action and change.
I was attracted to the stillness, quiet, and composition of the shot, as well as its potential for action.
In the UNFOCUSED series I manipulated the sense of time, action, and inaction of the shot via various editing strategies, including loops. The videos in the series were, for the most part, short. By “short” I mean an average running time of three minutes.
However, there is one video in the series that needed more breathing room. Much more. And that’s the looped and constantly evolving piece I call RUBBER BANDS. This is a deceptive and gently subversive loop that is, perhaps, the most meditative and contemplative work I’ve ever tinkered together. Stare at the mandala-like table in this shot long enough and you will begin to discover a world that is undergoing violent change. Okay, maybe “violent” is too strong a word, but change, nevertheless, is constant.
During the 53-minute duration of this presentation, the loop makes several complete cycles. I forgot just how many, but perhaps you will figure that out. Ready. Set. Stare.”
Neil Ira Needleman
Film/Videography
1970s-1980s
The Arrangements (a series of one-roll Super8 films)
1992
Red Ribbons (63 min.) An AIDS drama/comedy starring the late, great Quentin Crisp and ‘70s porn queen Georgina Spelvin. In distribution and available from Water Bearer Films (www.waterbearerfilms.com)
1994
Famous Again (77 min.)
A short narrative about Hollywood legends, contemporary pop culture, and sensationalist journalism. This micro-budget video reunited me with Quentin Crisp and Georgina Spelvin.
2002
Wedding Nigun for Boruch & Menucha
Latest Memories
UNFOCUSED: A Found-Footage Video Series
2003
Reasonable Explanations
Two Survivors
Cellular Activity: TAKING FLIGHT
Between Blinks 1
A compilation video consisting of:
Hurricane
One Sunset, Two Views
Time for Kitsch
A Day in the Art Museum with Stuart Davis and Jesus Christ
Broken Song of Freedom
2004
Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn
My First Film Noir
Consenting Adults
Cellular Activity: SPLIT SCREEN
Between Blinks 2
A compilation video consisting of:
Philadelphia
Moving Day (Super8, from The Arrangements series)
Ballad of Jesse James in Geneva
Stamford Storefront
Ann: Before and After
Late Afternoon
No Escape
Between Blinks 3
A compilation video consisting of:
Bush Defends America Against France and the Forces of Evil
The Woman at the Other End of the Party
Brooklyn Square Dancers (Super8, from The Arrangements series)
Heavy Handed. But True.
Quirk: Horizontal
My Love Affair with Loops…
Been Waiting Long?
Big Welcome
The Day After Election Day, 2004
2005
Fun in Bed with Tanya
Thanksgiving Loop
No Signal
Ayler Vibrato Vortex
Dell Hell: My Battle with Dell as the World Went to Hell
Cellular Activity: BECHET VIBRATO FRAGMENTS
Infinity Fragment 1
2006
Infinity Fragment 2
Between Blinks 4
A compilation video consisting of:
American Landscape 1
Dark Zydeco
On a Wing and a Prayer
Another Language I Can’t Speak
“Infinity Fragment” Fragment
An Imaginary Movie
Yes, I Enjoyed my Cousin’s Wedding in New Jersey
Uncle Hyman Cleans Up
I Provide the Images, You Provide the Metaphor
(and several commercial interruptions)
Works in progress (both utilizing footage from my daughter’s recent Hasidic wedding)
Cellular Activity: TANZ!
Sheva Brucha
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