Visual Vinyl Workshop and Performance

This workshop and performance has been organized to coincide with Olexander Gnilitsky's and Lesja Zajac's six week residency in Los Angeles.

Visual Vinyl is a collaborative interdisciplinary project that is based on an ancient, pre-cinematic concept--the laziness of the eye--and may be called an adaptation of, or homage to the zoetrope. It brings kinetic sculpture, performance, and video together using only minimum technical means: a turntable, a stroboscope and a few dozen LPs with handmade 3-D objects on them. Each 'record' becomes an analogue animation cycle, and when put in rotation under the flickering light of a stroboscope the formerly static objects start to move as if they are holograms.

During their residency, Zajac and Gnilitsky will work with a small group of Los Angeles-based artists and designers, led by Stephanie Hutin and her umbrella project, The New School for Post-Animative Thought. During a series of workshops, new 'records' will be made for this evolving project. The results of the workshop will come to life during a public performance at Gallery de Soto on March 29 from 7-10pm.

Workshop participants:

Chi-wang Yang is a Los Angeles-based theater director. Committed to physical performance and interdisciplinary collaboration, his work synthesizes stage, media, and technology. Recent projects have been featured at REDCAT, the Time-Based Arts Festival, and the Platform International Animation Festival. He is a core member of Cloud Eye Control, a video performance collective.

Souther Salazar's work first began to circulate in the early 90's, in the form of photocopied cut-and-paste microcomics and 'zines made in his bedroom as a young teenager in rural Oakdale, CA. After graduating from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, he moved to Los Angeles. Souther Salazar exhibits his collages, paintings, drawings and sculptures in dense and frenzied installations that encourage exploration and participation by the viewer. His work has appeared in galleries in New York, Los Angeles, Portland and Tokyo, and in publications such as Kramers Ergot, Swindle and The Drama and a recent cover feature in Giant Robot.

Nancy Parczyk is an animation filmmaker and illustrator from Germany. She currently lives and works in the Los Angeles area.

Florencio Zavala (b. 1979) received his BFA at the University of Florida in 2001 and his MFA from California Institute of the Arts in 2007. As Associate Creative Director for Studio Number One, he has worked with such clients as G4 Television, Dewar's, Hawaiian Punch, Red Bull, Interscope, Toyota, Hewlett Packard, and Nike. He has created artist editions for 2K, Instant Winner Skateboards, The Quiet Life and Nieves Publications. Zavala’s work has been exhibited in Chicago, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Paris and New York with solo exhibitions at Red Five (San Francisco) and The Reed Space (New York). He has been featured in numerous art and design publications including Arkitip, Art Prostitute, The Drama, Flaunt, Swindle, and Anthem Magazine. Additionally, he is co-partner in the LA-based project Big Skills with Stephanie Hutin. In 2006 Zavala was named one of Print Magazine's 20 under 30.

Stephanie Hutin is the founder and director of The New School for Post-Animative Thought (NewSPAT), and the experimental collective Big Skills. Stephanie Hutin has most recently been working on collaborative group projects related to performativity in animation. Her work has been shown at internationally, and notably at MoMA, The Wexner Center, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Outpost for Contemporary Art and Giant Robot. In 2008, Hutin will be launching The Echo Park Animation Laboratory, an experimental animation studio and archive. She earned a BFA from the University of Florida in Integrated Media, and a MFA in Experimental Animation and Integrated Media from California Institute of the Arts. With a background in performance, animation, and film/video, Hutin brings a unique perspective to Photography, New Media, and all things digital through a love for analogue.

Performance Date and Location: Saturday, March 29, 7-10pm
de Soto
108 West Second Street, #104
Los Angeles, CA 90012
www.gallerydesoto.com

Please contact Julie Deamer, Director, Outpost for Contemporary Art, at (323) 982-9461 or (323) 899-3533 or email at julie@outpost-art.org for more information.