The Unseen Festival 2018: Future Light. Thursday, September 6, 7:30pm
T H E U N S E E N F E S T I V A L 2018
Future Light
Join us on Thursday, September 6, 7:30pm for night 6 of the Unseen Festival. We will screen work by Mahta Hosseini, Vasilios Papaioannu and Emma Piper-Burket, Eden Mitsenmacher, M. Dianela Torres, Victoria Karmin, Emilia Izquierdo, and Karissa Hahn. Preceding the screening will be a reading, curated by Julia Madsen, featuring McCormick Templeman and Vincent Carafano.
The Sky is Mine – Mahta Hosseini – Iran – 2018 – 2 min
There is something miraculous about sky; nobody can limit it. The sky is the same in every country or region and without any borders; and as Sohrab Sepehri said “Wherever I am, let me be; the sky is mine.“ In this video there is an immigrant who is starting from her hometown (Tehran) and walks away from there but she is wearing a mirrored backpack depicting the same sky all over her way, and she somehow possesses it. The sky is very much like humanity and human souls as both cannot be limited by the territorial borders and walls being built every day between people.
Born in 1996, Mahta Hosseini is a filmmaker, video artist and cinéphile. She is currently studying English literature at Azad University of Tehran and she is researching the connection between cinema and literature. She started writing at nine by writing comic books and wrote novels and screenplays in high school. She passed directing and screenwriting courses in cinema institutes in Tehran. In 2017 she and two of her friends made their first film Avalanche which was officially selected in Cortonero Film Festival Italy. She was invited to Festival de Cannes 2018 as a young cinéphile and filmmaker; as she said in her interview with an Iran international TV channel, she believes that cinema affects culture and is affected by culture so a filmmaker should use her/his art to impact and aspire the society in a good way. She also believes that cinema is the closest art to poetry and like poetry a filmmaker should provoke emotion and pleasure in audience. She is highly inspired by poetry and it is reflected in her works of art. In her latest experimental film The Sky is Mine she depicts Sohrab Sepehri’s poem with a poetic vision and shows how limitless humanity is just as the sky.
The Man in the Bushes – Vasilios Papaioannu and Emma Piper-Burket – USA – 2017 – 6 min
A filmmaker follows a man as he searches for clues to understand the father he never knew. The distance from the Moon to Earth averages 238,855 miles. Both astronomical bodies are made up of the same elements in different proportions; one supports life, the other does not. A filmmaker follows a man as he searches for clues to understand the father he never knew. Armed with a stack of photographs, a street address and the knowledge that the man’s father was an astronaut, the two explore their surrounding environs in order to unravel the mysteries of living on planet earth. “This film was shot in Syracuse, New York on 16mm film in May 2017. We also used selections from NASA’s archival database, specifically the Apollo 10 mission, as well as material from the Apollo 16mm onboards (footage from all Apollo missions, Apollo-Saturn 202 through Apollo 17). For audio we used sounds that we recorded in Wendling, Oregon in July 2017 as well as NASA archival audio: the Highlight Reel of the Apollo 10 missions, Sounds of Saturn, and Audio from various launches and landings, recorded at the Kennedy Space Center. All NASA material was downloaded from the Internet Archive (archive.org).” – VP & EP-B
Vasilios Papaioannu (b. Thessaloniki, Greece 1978) is a Greek-Italian filmmaker-artist currently based in Syracuse, New York. In his work Papaioannu explores the fleeting dreamscapes of reality using noise, movement and disturbance. He merges different genres and unifies variegated media, primarily video, 16mm film and archival footage. In conjunction with his filmmaking activity he is also a mixed media visual artist, combining painting, vector art and photography. He holds an MA in Communication, Text Semiotics and Cinema from Universita’ degli Studi di Siena, in Tuscany, Italy and an MFA in Film and Cinematography from Syracuse University in New York. Papaioannu is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor at the Department of Transmedia, Film, in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University. http://www.vasiliospapaioannu.com/
Emma Piper-Burket is a visual artist, filmmaker, and writer working in fiction, non-fiction, and collected media. Her work is process-based and research driven, incorporating social trends, ancient history, science, politics, ephemera, and the natural world into her creative practice. She was an Ebert Fellow for Film Criticism at the Sundance Film Festival, a resident artist at Marble House Project, and participated in the Oberhausen Seminar and the Middlebury Script Lab. Her films have been exhibited nationally and internationally. Her writing frequently appears in Reverse Shot, and RogerEbert.com. She holds an MFA in Cinema and Digital Media from FAMU in Prague, and a BA in Arabic and Classical Studies from Georgetown University. http://emmapiperburket.com/
Couldn’t Dream Anywhere – Eden Mitsenmacher – Netherlands – 2016 – 4 min
It seems our consciousness is fascinated by our own hands. It makes sense, for aren’t they a symbol of our agency? That endlessly fragile agency, the sense of which is mostly constructed, almost dreamt up. Yet we’re searching for it relentlessly. Hurtling through space like that, is restlessness any wonder?
Eden Mitsenmacher Born 1987 in the USA; works in Rotterdam. Combining performance, video and installation to take a critical yet engaging view of social, political and cultural issues. Embracing the desire to do what you love and occasionally getting embarrassed by it. Finding a form for vulnerability and blurring the lines between sincerity and ambiguity. Using pop culture as a frame of reference for social and personal critique but also as a way to create familiarity and accessibility. Sharing and connecting experiences between an I and a You. Personal experiences such as love, loneliness and longing are taken at face value but are immediately turned into points of systematic general inquiry. The banal becomes serious, and vice versa. Presenting hyper-worlds, built from cultural stereotypes and cliche?s, then pushed to the brink of emotional overload. Kitsch is a conscious strategy in my research and practice. My inspirations often come from the observation in daily life and especially the firsthand experiences. As one of the many individuals who are experiencing the confusion and struggles in the current macro environment I am interested in the doubts, curiosity and cognition for the potential new value orientations and its unpredictable future possibilities.
Sincronía – M. Dianela Torres – Mexico – 2016 – 6 min
In order to be complete, the human being must be in synchrony with all that lies beyond the atmosphere. Sincroni?a was conceived as a formal experiment. Originally recorded with a DSLR camera, the material was edited to simulate views of scientific films with different textures and formats. Also, some of the images used are original footage from the NASA, remixed rhythmically with the music composed by Edgar Mondrago?n. The soundtrack was made for “Sonidos del ALMA” created by music festival So?nar (project that grabs astronomical frequencies captured by ALMA observatory in Chile). All the parts of the musical piece were made with these sounds that actually come from the space.
Juno – M. Dianela Torres – Mexico – 2017 – 5 min
Formal exploration with different textures: from the earth to the universe. A hand in the sand. Skin from the moon. From noise to calm. From abandonment to eternal youth. Beyond space and time, colors come together to recreate Juno. Juno is the daughter of Saturn, wife and sister of Jupiter. Jupiter is a planet covered with clouds and Juno has been placed in its orbit to discover mysteries. NASA sounds from Juno were used by Edgar Mondrago?n for the creation of the music. Also, additional images from NASA’s Cassini and Voyager missions (Jupiter, the moon and Saturn’s rings) were re-mixed in the short.
M. Dianela Torres is a producer, filmmaker and audiovisual researcher from Mexico City, interested in experimental cinema and video. She studied Broadcast & Media with a specialization in Audiovisual Production at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Her work has been exhibited and projected in Mexico, South America, USA and Europe. http://cargocollective.com/mdianelatorres
Extraterrestre – Victoria Karmin – Mexico – 2015 – 15 min
Experimental expression of the origin and evolution of life on Earth, which uses the scientific literature and a chaotic imagery as a metaphor of emotions and human reason.
Victoria Karmin was born in 1987 in Arapahoe, USA. Captivated from an early age by painting, she studied physics at National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and specialized in animation at the National School of Painting Sculpture and Engraving “La Esmeralda”. Since then her exploration and artistic creation takes place in a wide spectrum of disciplines: drawing, painting, animation, free education, art video, dance and architecture. Her work has been exhibited in different national and international festivals such as the Morelia International Film Festival, Huesca International Film Festival, Short Film Corner in Cannes and in multiple independent forums, and has been supported by institutions such as the National Fund for Culture and the Arts(FONCA) and the Directorate-General for the dissemination of science (DGDC) of the UNAM. She resides in Mexico City.
Eclipse – Emilia Izquierdo – United Kingdom – 2017 – 5 min
Eclipse I explores the relationship between society and the cosmos. It opens with a solar eclipse and ends with a lunar eclipse exploring our relationship with the digital/technological through the process of combining hand drawn animation and digital technology showing footage of violence, totalitarianism, political power games, the fight for social justice and natural phenomena. It weaves the cosmic and the political exploring our relationship with the earth from in both spheres.
Emilia Izquierdo is an artist based in London, UK working in video art using hand drawn animation and archival video footage. She has an MFA from the Slade school of Fine Art, London. MA Art and Politics at Goldsmiths University, London. Since 2012 she regularly exhibits her work in Video Art Festivals, Video Dance Festivals, residencies and exhibitions around the world. Exhibited internationally, among others: WNDX Moving Image Festival, Winnipeg, Canada (2018); 20th Belo Horizonte International Shortfilm Festival, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2018); Exp. 01, Experimental Moving Image, Genesis Cinema, London, UK (2018); Oberhausen International Short Film Festival Seminar in Germany (2018); Intersections, The Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology, New London, CT, USA (2018); Part II Soundscapes and Landscapes, Onassis Cultural Centre Athens, Greece (2018); Respublika! Nemes Art Centre, Limassol, Cyprus (2017); Blue Magpie Experimental Video Art Series, Hsunchu City Taiwan (2017);Instants Video 30th Numeriques Et Poetiques, Nos Desire Font Desordre, Marseille/Buenos Aires/Milan (2017); Soundscapes & Landscapes, Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens, Greece (2017); 25th Quinzena de Danca International Videodance festival (2017); Supernova Digital Animation Festival, Denver, USA (2017); Videoproject 2017, Biennale of Video Art, Angers, France (2017); Festival Pirineos Sur, Galicia, Spain curated by Iury Lech (2017); Oodaaq International Video Art Festival, France (2017); Filmideo, Index Art Center, NJ, USA (2017) E Wide Shut, [.Box] Gallery, Milan, Italy(2017); Frame + Form | Screen Dance Festival, Black Mountain College Museum & Art Centre, USA (2017); Madatac 8th Edition Video Art & New Media Arts Festival, Madrid, Spain (2017); Syracuse International Film & Media Festival 8th Edition, Syracuse, Italy (2016); International Festival Of Creativity, Innovation & Digital Culture, Canarias, Tenerife, Spain (2016); The Digital Body Exhibition, BIDFF, Bucharest, Romania (2016); Medea Electronique, Athens, Greece (2016); Artists & Landscape, CICA Museum, Korea (2016); MIVA 10, Multidisciplinary Video Art Festival, Quito, Ecuador (2016); Off The Wall Video Art Festival, Artlab, Madison, USA (2016); Miden Festival of Video Art, Greece (2016); Art Projects, Istanbul, Turkey (2016); Filmideo 2016 Index Art Center / Newark Museum, USA (2016); Athens Institute Of Contemporary Art (Athica) Micromedia Fest, USA, (2016); International Video Art Festival, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2015); I Can’t breathe, Chicago, USA (2015); Lumen II, Chiesa de San Francesco, Atina, Italy (2015); Video Art Festival, 6th EDITION Highlights, Dubai, U.A.E (2015), Cairo Video Art Festival, Egypt (2014); NAA Video Festival Barcelos, Portugal (2014); Pixels of Identities, Museum of Almeria, Spain (2014); FunctionLab, London (2014); Portas Abertas, Forum Eugenio De Almeida, Evora, Portugal (2013); Pleinairism, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, Canada (2013); The Serpentine Gallery Pavillion (2012). Selected Awards and Residencies: 2018, IIPPE Conference on Political Economy, Art/Activism, Pula, Croatia; 2018, The Oberhausen International Film Festival Seminar, Germany; 2018, Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology, New London, CT, USA; 2017 EarthLab, Proving Grounds Colloquium, Pecha Kucha, University of Westminster, London, UK; 2017 8th Annual Conference in Political Economy, Berlin, Germany 2017 Joya Art + Ecology, Andalucia, Spain 2016 Medea Electronique, Soundscapes And Landscapes Residency, Athens, Greece; 2016 Kent Summer Seminar In Critical Theory With Bernard Stiegler, Paris, France;2015 Autocenter Residency With Thibaud De Ruyter, Berlin, Germany;2014 Investee Activism, Michel Feher, Forensic Architecture-Goldsmiths University/Zone Books; 2013 Tissardemine Residency Award, Morocco; 2012 Banff Art Center Canada Residency Award
Future Light (2021) – Karissa Hahn – 2018 – 7 min – 16mm
the year 2021 – experience the duration of 1 year in 24 frames for 24 hours of the day – 365 strips of film inkjet printed with the precise amount of light per day, including accurate twilight times. darkness – dawn- day – dusk- darkness – dawn – day – dusk – darkness (coordinates of Los Angeles)
Karissa Hahn is a visual artist who works between film and video; accumulating a storm of spectral ephemera. Hahn has shown around the planet Earth in various cinemas, galleries, and institutions.
Reading Curator and Readers
