Contextualizations had been in my thoughts for quite a while before I was invited to the Calumet Artist Residency in Gary, IN, 2017. It was here where I dove into what has now become my long term artistic practice. This site-specific approach is based on refreshing our perspective of what is otherwise neglected by familiarity. I document everyday life-in-motion moments from the area, and project them against familiar objects. I then video record those projections, creating the material for my final pieces. Though I am using digital equipment, my process of real-time layering and minimal post-production gives the results an analog feel. The works cause audiences to lose themselves within and outside their familiar spaces, allowing them to see their ‘known’ anew and inspire all to see and hear a place though their own filters of culture, mood and preconceptions.
While ACVilla incorporates her approach, contextualizations, into many of her works, the most viewed is her collaboration with Thollem, partner and musician:
OBSTACLE ILLUSION
“Multimedia Performance Invites a Shift in Perspective”
Obstacle Illusion
is a multimedia performance incorporating ACVilla’s digital films in tandem with Thollem’s solo electric performance. Named after Thollem’s release on Astral Spirits Records, the audio/visual experience engages our personal and collective consciousness through visual and sonic allegories, riddles and recontextualizations.
“Audiological Visualization: Together the duo weave an aural and visual tapestry to dazzle the senses.“
The Paper, Albuquerque, NM
With ACVilla’s work, “there’s a continuous sense that things aren’t quite right but are still beautiful and intriguing. It’s a similar quality that I’m after with my approach with the Wavestate. We’re both interested in recontextualising sounds and images and therefore challenging our preconceptions about life and our relationship with the world.”
Thollem in The Wire
ACVilla “invites viewers to see an artistic bridge between human’s urban developments and the natural world,” while “Thollem’s talent pushed the boundaries of melody, inviting the audience to observe and think deeply throughout the uncanny and unique auditory artwork they were experiencing.”
Lola Watts, Santa Barbara Independent
RESIDENCIES
Upcoming:
Poschiavo, CH @ The Uncool Residency with Thollem
Past:
Amsterdam, NL @ The Atelier to create a piece honoring the studio space, the musicians who gather there and the artist who has brought them all together. The studio will be demolished in 2024 along with the others in the area.
St. Erme, FR @ Performing Arts Forum (PAF) – showing Obstacle Illusion and making artist connections
Porto, PT @ Sonoscopia – documenting their move and radio program at the end of the year
Brooklyn, NY @ Pioneer Works – with Thollem, where I witnesses Nico riding a bike for the first time. Amazing.
Gary, IN @ Calumet Artist Residency – where my idea of contextualizations came into being