PROGRAM ONE
curated by John Davis
presented in association with
Bimodal Press, Southern Exposure and The Lab
Performances will also be LIVE-STREAMED at www.twitch.tv/bimodalpress
all programs + details here
Artists In Person:
Alfonso Alvarez + Laetitia Sonami • Keith Evans + Suki O'Kane • Kevin Corcoran + Zack Parinella
Admission: $10 General/$6 Cinematheque Members and members of The Lab.
Event tickets here
Visit our Facebook Event here
COVID-19 SAFETY REQUIREMENTS: Proof of vaccination (including booster) required for all attendees. Masks must be worn at all times while in the venue.
Gravity Spells II is a four-evening series of sound, music and live cinema performance featuring twenty-four Bay Area artists collaborating through live cinema, music and sound art practices. Curated by John Davis, Gravity Spells II celebrates Bimodal Press’ multimedia publication of the same name. Full details on this series and publication available here.
Gravity Spells II: Program One
performances by:
Alfonso Alvarez + Laetitia Sonami
Keith Evans + Suki O'Kane
Kevin Corcoran + Zack Parinella
Alfonso Alvarez is a California filmmaker living in the Bay Area. From short work to multi-projection live events, Alvarez has collaborated with a wide range of artists to produce work that focuses on artistic innovation, hybrid expression and alternative production structures. His work measures the natural distance between minute details in life and the larger structures that make up the human experience of the world. Lately his focus has been on beekeeping as a means to explore the impact of climate change on plant phenology and native pollinator biology.
Laetitia Sonami is a sound artist, performer and composer of interactive electronic music who has been based in the San Francisco Bay area since 1978. She is known for her electronic compositions and performances with the Lady’s Glove, an instrument she developed for triggering and manipulating sound in live performance. Many of her compositions include live or sampled text. Sonami also creates sound installation work incorporating household objects embedded with mechanical and electronic components. Although some recordings of her works exist, Sonami generally eschews releasing recorded work.
Keith Evans is an artist and paranaturalist, working and performing in the Bay Area for over 30 years. Collaboration and co-creation have been a core element of his artistic practice having co-founded the experimental cinematic trio silt in 1989 as well as participating in many duos, groups and ensembles. “I consider my systems alchemical divination tools for myself and viewers, in the traditions of the poetic emblems of the hermetic sciences.”
Oakland-based musician, composer, improviser and instigator, Suki O’Kane works with artists from a wide array of music, movement, expanded cinema and public art genres. She has composed for inkBoat and Theatre of Yugen, performs in the ensembles of Dan Plonsey and Rae Diamond and is a member of Thingamajigs Performance Group with Dylan Bolles, Keith Evans and Edward Schocker. She is a student of monumental and durational forms. O’Kane’s work has been supported by the Creative Work Fund, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, Oakland Stock and New Music USA.
Kevin Corcoran works with percussion, field recording and electronics with an open interest in sound as medium as it moves through contexts of music, art, communication and place. including in emphasizing friction, sympathetic vibration, sustained tones and use of found objects and field recording practice. Kevin is based in San Francisco. In addition to his own work he is active as a curator for the Re:Sound series organized by 23five, a Bay Area nonprofit dedicated to sound in the arts.
Zack Parrinella is a filmmaker and musician based in Oakland. His work has shown at CROSSROADS and the Havana Film Festival. He is a member of Black Hole Collective Film Lab. When he isn't making films, he makes music, works as a traveling notary and watches plants grow.
Gravity Spells II: The Publication
Gravity Spells II celebrates Bimodal Press’ publication of the same name: a multimedia “bundle” featuring 2 LPs, 4 DVDs, a perfect bound letterpress booklet containing original commissioned essays, color images, artist bios, a silkscreened show poster and announcement card, packaged in a hand-printed sleeve.
Contents:
LP (sound/music): Paul DeMarinis; Suki O’Kane; Laetitia Sonami; Zachary James Watkins
DVD (moving images): Kieth Evans; Zach Iannazzi; Janis Crystal Lipzin; Scott Stark
Original Writing: John Davis; Steve Anker; Brian Darr; Paul DeMarinis; Tooth (arc); Kathleen Quillian; Tanya Zimbardo
Publication will be available for purchase at all performance events
or via San Francisco Cinematheque here.
Gravity Spells II is dedicated with love to the memory of Paul Clipson who perpetually guides and inspires us through his indelible humor, vision, commitment to craft and deep generosity of spirit. We miss you buddy!