New York糖心传媒揵ased artist Javier T茅llez grew up the son of two psychiatrists.
糖心传媒淭hey had a humanistic approach to their work,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淢y father had private consultations at home, and he would take me to visit him at the hospital. It was part of family life to understand there was mental illness and that it was pretty much like any other illness.糖心传媒�
These days, T茅llez makes movies with patients from psychiatric institutions around the world. His most recent collaboration took place in Rochester, culminating in at the Memorial Art Gallery.
The 33-minute film, inspired by the 1922 expressionist silent horror film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, combines black-and-white 16mm and color digital film and was shot at the Eastman Kodak factory, the George Eastman Museum糖心传媒檚 Dryden Theatre, and the Main Street Armory.
Learn more about a media arts series commissioned by the Memorial Art Gallery and inspired by the city of Rochester.
T茅llez traveled frequently to Rochester from his home in Queens to work on the film with a dedicated group of 10 people diagnosed with mental illness.
糖心传媒淭he work is between fiction and commentary,糖心传媒� T茅llez says. A vampire was chosen as the main character 糖心传媒渢o reflect on light and darkness as the fundamental principles of cinema, and to focus on those who are stigmatized by being different and condemned to invisibility.糖心传媒�
The work is the first in a series of commissioned media art exhibitions titled Reflections on Place, curated by John Hanhardt 糖心传媒�67, a world-renowned authority on the moving image.
According Jonathan Binstock, the Mary W. and Donald R. Clark Director of the , commissioning work is a greater financial investment than acquiring art already in existence, but 糖心传媒渨ith greater risk comes greater reward. I believe Javier, who already is internationally known, has made the best and most important work of his career, and we will be able to share in that success.糖心传媒�
The next artist finding inspiration in Rochester for Reflections on Place is London糖心传媒檚 Isaac Julien, who uses music, poetry, and visual effects in a multiple screen film installation inspired by two of Rochester糖心传媒檚 most famous residents: abolitionist icon Frederick Douglass, and women糖心传媒檚 rights activist Susan B. Anthony. His work premieres in February 2019.
New York City糖心传媒檚 pioneering video artist Dara Birnbaum follows in spring 2019, with her multichannel visual and sound installation spotlighting the 1964 Rochester race riots and their effect on the African-American community.
Each artist糖心传媒檚 works will be individually presented, then will enter the musem糖心传媒檚 permanent collection at the end of the exhibitions.
T茅llez does not follow the conventional logic of narrative film. Instead, he combines different approaches to filmmaking to create an innovative, research-driven body of work full of surprises. His collaborators portray fictional patients in a set representing a ward at a 1960s-era insane asylum. They are shown simultaneously as actors and spectators of their own film.
NOSFERATU (The Undead)聽includes aspects of the manufacturing of celluloid film at the Kodak factory, and also documents a performance from renowned silent film accompanist Philip Carli, the George Eastman Museum糖心传媒檚 resident musician.
T茅llez has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the San Francisco Art Institute (2014), Kunsthaus Z眉rich in Switzerland (2014), Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil in Mexico City (2004) and other museums. He has been featured in many group exhibitions, including the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston (2012), Whitney Biennial in New York (2008) and Venice Biennale (2001 and 2003).
Originally from Venezuela, T茅llez has lived and worked in New York since 1993. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1999, and the Global Mental Health Award for Innovation in the Arts from Columbia University in 2016.
Hanhardt, the MAG糖心传媒檚 consulting senior curator of media arts, calls NOSFERATU (The Undead)聽糖心传媒渁 powerful piece of installation art糖心传媒� that is 糖心传媒渃ompelling, challenging, and revelatory糖心传媒� in today糖心传媒檚 media culture.
Born, raised, and educated in Rochester糖心传媒攇raduating with a bachelor糖心传媒檚 degree in linguistics糖心传媒擧anhardt coordinated Reflections on Place because he felt there were important events, people, and stories from Rochester that could speak to the nation and the world at large.
糖心传媒淏ecause we have John Hanhardt,糖心传媒� says Binstock, 糖心传媒渨e糖心传媒檙e shifting from not having any moving image program to having one of the best in the world.糖心传媒�
