Throughout 2020 & 2021, ISSUE Project Room premiered ten works in its newly initiated Distant Pairs series. For two nights on Tuesday, March 1st & Wednesday, March 2nd, ISSUE & Anthology Film Archives will screen these works—which originally premiered online and were experienced in disparate home screen & sound system arrangements. ISSUE is taking the opportunity to present the works back-to-back in a cinematic environment, showcasing the varied compositional structures, cinematic orientations, and unique approaches to the “audiovisual” demands of our current age.
The Distant Pairs series commissions sound artists to produce collaborative work at a time when the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted their ability to travel and perform, and altered the nature of collective work and performance. Pairing artists in disparate locations who cannot work together in “traditional” ways, the Distant Pairs series examines the collaborative process, methods of working, and partnership amidst these constrained conditions.
The series has included premieres from Joe McPhee & Taku Unami, Veryan Weston & Ingrid Laubrock, Dreamcrusher & Dis Fig, Ana da Silva & Phew, Sofia Jernberg & Tomeka Reid, Rob Thorne & Raven Chacon, Viola Yip & Laetitia Sonami, Cecilia Lopez & Carmen Baliero, Louis Carnell & Okkyung Lee, and Rashad Becker & FUJI||||||||||TA.
The March 2nd screening will feature a short conversation + Q&A with participating artists Viola Yip & Cecilia Lopez, whose Distant Pairs works were co-presented with Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center.
Program 1: Tuesday, March 1st - 7pm ET
Taku Unami & Joe McPhee (15:37)
Veryan Weston & Ingrid Laubrock (59:45)
Dreamcrusher & Dis Fig (16:34)
Ana da Silva & Phew (19:15)
Tomeka Reid & Sofia Jernberg (13:50)
Rob Thorne & Raven Chacon (37:15)
Total running time: ca. 163 minutes
Program 2: Wednesday, March 2nd - 7pm ET
Conversation with Viola Yip & Cecilia Lopez
Viola Yip & Laetitia Sonami (Co-presented with Harvestworks) (26:32)
Cecilia Lopez & Carmen Baliero (Co-presented with Harvestworks) (28:02)
Louis Carnell (Visionist) & Okkyung Lee (22:40)
Rashad Becker & FUJI||||||||||TA (Co-presented with AvanTokyo) (47:22)
Total running time: ca. 125 minutes + introduction conversation
New commissions in ISSUE’s Distant Pairs series are being presented online on ISSUE’s website throughout February, 2022. These works, in addition to the 2020 and 2021 commissions, stream on ISSUE’s site and available on the Archive page after each premiere date.
