PROGRAM FOUR
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:
Alix Blevins + Zachary James Watkins • Molly Fishman + Janis Crystal Lipzin • Joshua Churchill + Konrad Steiner
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 Four
performances by:
Alix Blevins + Zachary James Watkins
Molly Fishman + Janis Crystal Lipzin
Joshua Churchill + Konrad Steiner
Alix Blevins is a filmmaker, curator and projectionist from the Bay Area. She is a member of Black Hole Collective Film Lab and has taught workshops on handmade and DIY filmmaking practices. Blevins also co-organizes the latent image, an artist-made film screening series in Oakland which was awarded an Alternative Exposure grant from Southern Exposure in 2019. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Film/Video at California Institute of the Arts.
Zachary James Watkins studied composition with Janice Giteck, Jarrad Powell, Robin Holcomb and Jovino Santos Neto at Cornish College. In 2006, he received an MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College where he studied with Chris Brown, Fred Frith, Alvin Curran and Pauline Oliveros. Watkins has performed in numerous festivals across the United States, Mexico and Europe and his band Black Spirituals opened for pioneering Drone Metal band Earth during their 2015 European tour.
Molly Fishman is a San Francisco based Composer focusing on live sound processing, tape manipulation and site-specific acoustics. Since 2012, Fishman has been focusing on live sound processing through digital delay. Her current project My Favorite Punk Band involves producing cassette tapes which engage their own time scale to create a new work by manipulating live recordings, creating a physical artifact of a non-existent performance.
Janis Crystal Lipzin is a visual artist based in Sonoma County, California, who creates multi-disciplinary works ranging from time-based art to printed matter, but is primarily known for her film/photography practices. Throughout her 50-year career, her work has blended an enduring interest in the volatility of nature and human events with a sympathy for alternative, hand-made processes. She taught at the San Francisco Art Institute for 3 decades where she chaired the Film Department.
Joshua Churchill is an Oakland-based cross-disciplinary artist whose site-specific sound and light work takes the form of both installation and performance, often blurring the line between the two. Utilizing a variety of instruments, electronics, and field recordings, Churchill interweaves resonant drones, abstract textures and pulsing feedback into immersive waves of sound. Churchill has collaborated extensively with filmmakers John Davis and Paul Clipson, and also performs solo under the moniker Plumes. He has previously performed in experimental drone/metal projects including ByaGtor, Riqis and Tecumseh.
Konrad Steiner is a filmmaker interested in live cinema, music and language who curates and creates single channel and performance works with poets and musicians in the Bay Area and beyond. He studied filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. BA in Linguistics from Stanford U. Member of the San Francisco Cinematheque curatorial committee 2003–2006; co-founder and producer of kino21 film and performance series (2007-2010) in San Francisco.
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!