Press Release – Friedman dates extended
By CAM Raleigh | February 20, 2012
CAM RALEIGH EXTENDS DATES FOR DARA FRIEDMAN’S FILM DANCER
Museum Premiere
Now on view January 28 through May 14, 2012
Image: Dara Friedman Dancer, 2011 (film still). Super 16mm film transferred to HD video, black & white, sound. Running time: 25 minutes. Courtesy of the artist, Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York, and Miami Art Museum, Miami
Raleigh, December 2011—CAM Raleigh has extended the exhibition dates for the film, Dancer created by Dara Friedman, to be on view January 28–May 14, 2012. Miami-based artist Dara Friedman, born in 1968 in Germany, documents a series of dances that took place on the gritty and lush landscape of Miami, Florida in the spring of 2011. Unfolding principally in seemingly effortless tracking shots and enmeshed in a moving soundtrack, the film captures 66 performers in 40 segments as they dance, during the day and at night, along Miami’s sidewalks, in its parks and parking garages, street corners, bus benches, and on its beaches. Pole, funk, Flamenco, ballet, modern, break, belly, and ballroom dancing are all energetically represented, as are skateboarding, skipping, and voguing. The film focuses upon the isolation of city life and at the same time upon the vitality of city life. The film depicts a crowded Miami street corner, where an unexpected and memorable performance could be a seen as a daily occurrence.
The film is incredibly nuanced; the sounds of the city, a dancer’s breathing, as well as the noises of passing traffic, wheels of a skateboard or a belly dancer’s costume, increase the impression of being on the cinematic scene. Friedman dramatizes dance styles and their emotional impact by changing the camera speed and by mixing in a diverse array of musical styles. The black and white film is intimately captured with a hand-cranked Bolex in Super 16mm. Dancer extends Friedman’s longstanding interest in performance and experimental filmmaking practices. Accompanying the performances is an unforgettable soundtrack, which paces the film throughout its 25-minute running time.
Executive Director of CAM Raleigh, Elysia Borowy-Reeder, says "If in the last century the crisis of representation was resolved by new ways of seeing, then in the twenty-first century the challenge is for artists to suggest new ways of experiencing. Friedman’s Dancer is contemporary art about contemporary existence."
Dancer is the most recent film in an unofficial trilogy of new works by Friedman that focus on performance and public space. In 2007, the Public Art Fund commissioned Musical, 2007-2008, which captured spontaneous actions orchestrated across Manhattan. In 2009, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt commissioned Friedman to create a performance as part of the exhibition Playing The City. Frankfurt Song, 2010, asked the city's array of street musicians to interpret the Rolling Stones’ 1969 song You Can't Always Get What You Want. The performance and subsequent film takes a snapshot of the city and makes a point of highlighting the endless renaissance of its people, places, and politics.
Dancer, 2011, is co-produced by the Miami Art Museum and was most recently presented at the New World Symphony’s “New World Center Screen” as part of Art Basel Miami Beach.
Opening Preview Celebrations
Founders and Leadership Circle Preview Reception
Friday, January 27, 2012
5:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m.
Join CAM Raleigh's Leadership Circle to attend this special exhibition preview.
Member Preview Reception
Friday, January 27, 2012
7:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m.
Become a CAM Raleigh member to attend this special exhibition preview.
Also on view
Born Digital: Exploring Digital Culture and Interactivity
On view January 28 through April 30, 2012
Showcasing a growing body of contemporary art that is visitor dependent and without the use of specific interfaces like keyboards or touch screens—aspects of this exhibition are movement-driven which empowers visitors to exercise their creativity and act on their curiosity. Born Digital features the work of 12 national and international pioneers of digital and new media art. Most of the featured artworks in the exhibition employ computer vision technologies, more commonly known as interactive video. The combined use of digital video cameras and custom computer software allows each artwork to "see," and respond to, bodies, colors and/or motion in the space of the museum. The few works not using cameras in this fashion employ similar technologies towards the same end; they are reflections of our digital culture.
Chris Bradley—Close One
On view February 24 through May 28, 2012
Predicated on common desires, like maximum leisure time and the thirst for travel, the exhibition Close One celebrates idiosyncrasies found in our average daily monotony. Included in the exhibition are spoofs and spin-offs of ordinary, blue-collar subjects that hint at potential fictional histories behind the work. What you encounter is a duality of play of reproductions where material specificity and trompe l’oeil painting put authenticity to question; and the byproduct of inebriated reverie and wishful thinking are front and center.
A recent School of the Art Institute of Chicago MFA graduate, Bradley balances humor with thoughtful composition in his playful installations and pairs unlikely elements with more common sculptural materials such as wood and steel. By arranging prosaic objects in uncommon ways, Bradley assigns them new importance and suggests new ways of relating to them. The use of disparate materials, such as discarded auto parts and cast bronze forms, Bradley creates a conversation amongst the work that diminishes conventional means of appraisal and embraces the material’s immediate effect. Busts made of broken saw blades sit atop plinths of shattered car windshields, while cast bronze junk food rest whimsically, waiting to be shot at as subjects of target practice. As you walk through Close One, be sure to stay out of the line of fire.
About the Emerging Artist Series
CAM Raleigh is the only museum in the region with a dedicated gallery for emerging artists and designers. Through exhibiting emerging artists whose work is still in progress and fresh from the studio, CAM Raleigh celebrates the diversity of artistic expression and places the artist at the center of the community. The museum supports early career contemporary artists in an atmosphere where they are encouraged to foster a cross-fertilization of ideas and dynamic interaction with visitors. Visitors from all walks of life will often have a chance to meet and exchange ideas with the artists celebrated in this series. CAM Raleigh’s Independent Weekly Gallery features the Emerging Artist Series.
Hours and Admission
CAM Raleigh hours are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 11:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., and first and third Fridays of the month open late. The museum is closed on Tuesday. General admission to the museum is $5. CAM Raleigh members, children 10 and under, members of NARM and Mod/Co, and NC State students, staff, and faculty are admitted free.
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CAM Raleigh is a non-collecting museum that explores what’s now and presents an always-changing museum experience. CAM Raleigh is collaboration between the Contemporary Art Foundation, the community of Raleigh and North Carolina State University’s College of Design. CAM Raleigh is generously supported by the Contemporary Art Foundation, North Carolina State University, individual and corporate members, private and corporate foundations, and government agencies. CAM Raleigh is located at 409 West Martin Street, Raleigh, NC 27603, between Harrington and West streets and in the heart of Raleigh’s Depot National Register Historic District and Warehouse District. CAM Raleigh has a parking lot; additional parking is available at metered spots on the street or at the Davie Street Parking Lot located at 201 W. Davie Street. Information about CAM Raleigh’s exhibitions, programs, and special events is available on the CAM Raleigh website at camraleigh.org or by phone at 919.513.0946. Follow @camraleigh on twitter.
