Chicagoland Shorts: Expanded Cinema was a featured event of Chicago Artists Month 2015 and our ongoing Expanded Cinema project, featuring a two-night multi-media showcase with works by local filmmakers, musicians, a live score by Chandeliers, DJs spinning well into the night, and more.
By Amir George
A Journey with Mae Jemison is a voyage into time and space. First landing, 1992, we will travel with Mae along her historic space mission on the STS-47 as the first black woman in space. Then we warp back to the future on a continued exploration guided by Amir George.
By Molly Hewitt
"Diamonds" is a reenactment of Marilyn Monroe's Diamonds are a girls best friend from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. By performing this number Hewitt is adding herself to the lineage of performers who have also followed Monroe's example such as Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Anna Nicole Smith.
By Fawzia Mirza
The Queen of My Dreams is a short, experimental docu-narrative film co-written and co-directed by Ryan Logan and Fawzia Mirza. It was originally conceived as an installation piece with time lapse photography and a queer retelling of the love story imagery from the famous Bollywood movie Aradhana, starring icons Sharmila Tagore and Rajesh Khana. After the footage was shot, Mirza called her collaborator Logan asking him to turn the footage into a film for a film festival deadline in seven days. Logan conceived of the 3 minute short film in this style. Logan did all editing, including graphics.
This four channel video installation featured works by Eugene Sun Park, Lydia Fu, and Tracy Pitts.
This four channel video installation featured works by Eugene Sun Park, Lydia Fu, and Tracy Pitts.
Jennifer Reeder
I Start To Glow is a new expanded cinema performance constructed from three works by Jennifer Reeder that span from 1998-2011 and explore the relationship between pop culture and teenage vulnerability. Nevermind (1998) is a non-narrative post-punk aria about the manifestation of gender and rebellion in media culture. It threatens the power of the hero in rock music and features Reeder lip-syncing to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Lullaby (1999) features Madonna's "Lucky Star" with footage Reeder shot at her hometown high school during cheerleading try-outs. One Thousand Ways To Skin It (2011) is a reprise of Nevermind. It features two 13-year-old girls dressed as Black Metal Brides lip syncing to a mash-up of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Bootylicious."
By Greg Browe
A boy is roused from his sleep and tasked to leave the primordial forest he calls home.
By Greg Browe
A boy is roused from his sleep and tasked to leave the primordial forest he calls home.
By Screen & Projector
An Expanded Cinematic version of the artist jumping into the abyss. This work interprets the scientific study of the biosphere, living and inert matter, and the evolution towards intelligent life, as put forth by still relevant scientists/philosophers Vladimir Vernadsky and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin one hundred years ago. Is transformation of the soul possible to witness? Could we be evolving from terrestrial to celestial beings?
Concept, movement choreography, and performance by Sara Zalek.
Contemporary classical music performance by Hanna Brock.
Analog video explorations by new media artist, experimental musician, and poet Sara Goodman.
By Screen & Projector
An Expanded Cinematic version of the artist jumping into the abyss. This work interprets the scientific study of the biosphere, living and inert matter, and the evolution towards intelligent life, as put forth by still relevant scientists/philosophers Vladimir Vernadsky and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin one hundred years ago. Is transformation of the soul possible to witness? Could we be evolving from terrestrial to celestial beings?
Concept, movement choreography, and performance by Sara Zalek.
Contemporary classical music performance by Hanna Brock.
Analog video explorations by new media artist, experimental musician, and poet Sara Goodman.
By Screen & Projector
An Expanded Cinematic version of the artist jumping into the abyss. This work interprets the scientific study of the biosphere, living and inert matter, and the evolution towards intelligent life, as put forth by still relevant scientists/philosophers Vladimir Vernadsky and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin one hundred years ago. Is transformation of the soul possible to witness? Could we be evolving from terrestrial to celestial beings?
Concept, movement choreography, and performance by Sara Zalek.
Contemporary classical music performance by Hanna Brock.
Analog video explorations by new media artist, experimental musician, and poet Sara Goodman.
Chicagoland Shorts: Expanded Cinema included a free dance party after the screening. Night One featured the band Chandeliers and DJ Dan Milhail. Night Two featured DJ LA* Jesus.
For those who wanted a memento from the night, there was a merchandise table, which consisted of works by Chicagoland artists and DVDs of Chicagoland Shorts Vol. 1.
For the audience members who prefer coffee, Chicagoland Shorts: Expanded Cinema offered free pour over coffee with on-site baristas from Abacus Coffee.
The event also included a bar with drinks from Crafthouse Cocktails and Goose Island Brewery.
