Martin Beauregard & Marlena Kudlicka

April 28th – May 28th, 2005

Location One is pleased to present the second of three Spring exhibitions showcasing the work of artists participating in its 2004-2005 International Residency Program. The two installations by Canadian artist Martin Beauregard, and Polish artist Marlena Kudlicka were developed during their residencies at Location One. An opening reception will be held from 6 to 8 pm on Thursday April 28th and the exhibition will be open to the public through Saturday, May 28th, 2005.

“Soap Operation”, single-channel video projection (6 minutes), by Martin Beauregard.
How do film and television modify our perception of reality. Martin Beauregard examines this question throughout his work by merging elements of popular imagery produced by the media, cinema and television, with events from his personal life. The formal and linguistic propositions that he sets forth investigate this terrain between fiction and reality (or autobiographical documentary), and the viewer is left unsettled.

In “Soap Operation” the artist draws from such televised series as Loft Story, Bachelor and Nouvelle Star, but the protagonist here is played by the artist himself, filmed in real life during a hospital stay. A cameraman, who was given specific screening instructions, follows him during an operation to the nose while under anesthesia, and then into the recovery room where he is in the company of his girlfriend. Beauregard reconstitutes the footage into a cinematographic document, giving particular emphasis to images that appear to have emerged from a fictional movie plot. The vapid and naïve dialogues between the patient and his girlfriend draw on elements from their love life and enhance the soap opera effect.

“The Image That Emits No Shadow”, video projections and photographs, by Marlena Kudlicka. Kudlicka’s installations create a state of mind that stimulate perception in a very special way. In her own words, she is interested in moments that are “ephemeral and fail to stay in our memory as a definable image.” In “The Image That Emits No Shadow,” the artist’s has taken the word “Sunset” from the wall of a 1950’s movie house and transposed it to our times. The word itself is meant to evoke the viewer’s own recollections and associations to the concept and to images of a sunset. Her intent is to “visualize these post image moments so that they can be recognized and questioned in every day life.”

Location One is a not-for-profit organization devoted to the convergence between visual, performing and digital arts in a time of rapidly changing technology. Location One’s International Residency Program is the central focus of its activities. It encourages collaboration by inviting artists from all over the world, and working in different media, to experiment with advanced technological tools and delivery systems, and to develop new work. Martin Beauregard’s residency is supported by the “Pamela Del Hierro Fellowship” and the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres, Quïbec; Marlena Kudlicka’s, by the Trust for Mutual Understanding.