This World Made Itself
Myth and Infrastructure
by Miwa Matreyek
Media Archeology: In The Beginning
Co-presented with University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts for CounterCurrent 2014
First Performance: 6:30 Doors and 7PM Show
Second Performance: 8:30 Doors and 9PM Show
Free Admission with Advance Registration at http://countercurrentfestival.org/
Animator/performance artist Miwa Matreyek returns to Houston for an evening of live cinema performance in partnership with Aurora Picture Show for Media Archeology and the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts for CounterCurrent 2014. Incorporating the live silhouette of her own body into video projections, Matreyek renders exquisite animations into breathtakingly beautiful theatrical presentations. She will present "Myth and Infrastructure," as well as, "This World Made Itself" at Aurora Picture Show (2442 Bartlett Street) on Wednesday, April 9th.
The works of Miwa Matreyek spin dreamlike narratives by fusing intricate animations into live performance creating spellbinding visuals. Blurring the line between real and unreal, Matreyek's performances are a magical cinematic experience that is not to be missed.
Matreyek is presented thanks to a unique partnership between Aurora Picture Show's long-standing Media Archeology festival in collaboration with the first annual CounterCurrent festival from The University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts. Thanks to this collaboration of two unique arts organizations and festivals, Matreyek returns to Houston. Miwa previously presented "Myth and Infrastructure" in Houston as part of the Houston Cinema Arts Festival in partnership with Aurora Picture Show in November 2011.
For this visit, Miwa will add a presentation of her latest solo work, "This World Made Itself," in addition to a encore performance of "Myth and Infrastructure." "This World Made Itself" is a visually and musically-rich journey through the history of the earth, from the universe's epic beginnings to the complex world of humans. The piece is at once semi-scientific (like flipping through a children's encyclopedia), and emotional and dream-like rich in surrealism, metaphor, and fantasy.
"Myth and Infrastructure" is a live performance with projected animation where the shadow of Matreyek is constantly present in this piece from beginning to end - sometimes in semi close-up and sometimes as a full figure - as the world around her shifts and transforms. Her shadow becomes an integral part of her own fantastical animation worlds, as she traverses oceanscapes, cityscapes, and domestic spaces to conjure dreamlike scenes with light and shadow. A teaser video of this performance is located here: http://vimeo.com/10278043
Miwa Matreyek is an animator, designer, and multimedia artist based in Los Angeles. With her background in experimental animation and integrated media (she received an MFA from CalArts in 2007), Matreyek creates animated short films as well as live performance works that integrate animation, performance, and video installation. Her work has been shown internationally at animation and film festivals, theater and performance festivals, art galleries and museums, science museums, tech conferences, and universities. She is also a founding member and collaborator of the performance group Cloud Eye Control. Her website is http://www.semihemisphere.com/
This presentation is presented as part of Media Archeology: In the Beginning. On Aurora's 10th anniversary of Media Archeology, a festival that showcases artists who use media to create live multidisciplinary events and performances, Aurora Picture Show welcomes Steve Dietz, Founder, President, and Artistic Director of Northern Lights.mn, as Curator of Media Archeology 2014. In The Beginning will feature three nights of performances that look to the deep time of pre-history to create compelling experiences of how the world was formed and how the world of our ideas is shaped. Artists include Miwa Matrayek (April 9), Lynette Wallworth and Piotr Syzhalski.
In addition to being the first performance for Media Archeology, this program is co-presented with the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts as part of CounterCurrent. CounterCurrent is a five-day festival of bold experimental art occupying a range of unexpected sites in the city of Houston. CounterCurrent includes audio and visual installation, live performance, and participatory events by artists from around the world. Collaborations with dynamic organizations and artists in the Houston community are included as well as fresh new works by University of Houston faculty and students. For more information visit http://countercurrentfestival.org/