Viral Venture Thursday, February 10, 7pm

Viral Venture Thursday, February 10, 7pm

The BFA Fine Arts Department presents a conversation with media artist and faculty member Joseph Nechvatal and composer Rhys Chatham, moderated by MFA Computer Art and MFA Art Practice faculty member Kathy Brew, an independent videomaker, curator and writer. Discussions will precede and follow a screening of Viral Venture, a digital art projection by Nechvatal with a score by Chatham.

Viral Venture consists of Nechvatal’s most recent artificial-life computer virus attacking his digital paintings of human retinas and anuses. Chatham’s score consists of his 2005 composition for 400 electric guitars, A Crimson Grail, a work originally commissioned by Nuit Blanche, the annual all-night arts festival held in Paris, and performed and recorded at the landmark Sacre-Coeur Basilica.

About the Panelists

Joseph Nechvatal has worked with ubiquitous electronic visual information, computers and computer robotics since 1986. In 2002 he extended his artistic research with viral form into the field of viral artificial life through his collaboration with the programmer Stephane Sikora. Nechvatal is the author of Towards an Immersive Intelligence: Essays on the Work of Art in the Age of Computer Technology and Virtual Reality 1993 - 2006 (Edgewise Press, 2009).

Rhys Chatham is a composer, guitarist and trumpet player primarily active in avant-garde and minimalist music. He is best known for his guitar orchestra compositions. Born on September 19, 1952, in New York City, he has lived in France since 1987. A 200-guitar version of A Crimson Grail was performed at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival and recently released on the Nonesuch label.

Kathy Brew is an award-winning video maker whose experience spans independent documentaries to experimental work and public television productions. She is also a curator/programmer who has worked with many artists at the intersection between media and art. Recent involvements include: Tribeca Film Institute’s Reframe Collection, Lincoln Center’s NY Video Festival, the Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, WNET’s independent series, Reel New York, and Thundergulch, the new media arts initiative of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. She writes on media and contemporary art for catalogs and other publications, and has taught at the New School, NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, and the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

SVA Theatre, 333 West 23 Street

Free and open to the public