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Projected images of black and white textures and green forms on a screen

Charles Curtis & Raha Raissnia

Charles Curtis & Raha Raissnia

A duo between a visual artist and a musician who, while using very different means (35mm slides & 16mm film / cello), both approach their work with a keen interest in the layering of material, the points at which images or notes overlap and the accidental beauty that can be created there. You couldn’t really say that image or sound come first, but rather that in their combination they create a third element in the performance, the synthesis of shared approaches.

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Raissnia emigrated, when quite young, from Iran to the USA in 1983. She’s a painter and photographer of dense, gestural, monochrome images; layered, reflected composites. Curtis is one of the leading cellists in experimental music. His playing is diamond-cut and precise, yet also full of tiny detail, beating multiphonics and hovering drones. He’s been a collaborator with legendary minimalist composer La Monte Young for the best part of 20 years and has had works written specifically for him by Young, as well as other giants of minimalist music, including Alvin Lucier and Eliane Radigue.

In her performances, Raha creates a kind of dreamlike atmosphere of slowly evolving, delicate images, overlapped, intertwined and contrasted. Looking at her multiple 35mm slides, superimposed over colour 16mm film loops we get the impression of having a kind of compound eye, of looking at refracted and multiplied images produced through a glass paperweight. Charles’ accompaniment mixes delicate electronic tones that articulate the architecture of the room with his slowly evolving microtonal cello drones; if only such a thing as a compound ear existed, then we’d use that to describe the multiplicity of tiny interactions, drones and movements he creates.

Documentation

10 images, 2 videos, 1 audio
Audio Recording
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Copyright © 2008
Projection of abstract images in dark hues against a dark background

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

Projection of abstract images in dark hues against a dark background

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

Projection of black and white images, distorted and layered

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

Vertical fine bands of colour over black and white projections

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

Projected images of black and white textures and green forms on a screen

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

geometrical forms in black and white projected on a screen

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

Dark red lines among faded projections

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

Gauze and emerald green forms projected on a screen

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

An image that looks older than it is, projected

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

A black and white projection of indistinct forms

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

Projection of abstract images in dark hues against a dark background

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

Projection of abstract images in dark hues against a dark background

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

Projection of black and white images, distorted and layered

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

Vertical fine bands of colour over black and white projections

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

Projected images of black and white textures and green forms on a screen

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

geometrical forms in black and white projected on a screen

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

Dark red lines among faded projections

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

Gauze and emerald green forms projected on a screen

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

An image that looks older than it is, projected

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

A black and white projection of indistinct forms

▴ Credit: Bryony McIntyre

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