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I.S.L.A.N.D.S. Series

HalfLifers

1998 00:23:15 United States English Color Mono

Description

I.S.L.A.N.D.S. #1: In Residence Dual trajectories through lush innerscapes propel us into color-saturated action-scenarios where the mission to re-establish identity and sustain communication linkage is never-ending.

I.S.L.A.N.D.S. #2: Operation Big Yellow A useful inanimate object, burdened with excessive psychic residue, is funneled through Half-Life for a complete wipe-down and a few healthy exercises.

I.S.L.A.N.D.S. #3: Belief in a Watery Country Frantic re-application of a fluid medium within pre-sensitized areas transports us to the edge of a churning sea of potential activity. Pitted against the pounding energy currents, the HalfLifers find they can barely hold their own. And when the tap runs dry it’s time to move on.

This title is also available on HalfLifers: The Complete History.

HalfLifers is an ongoing collaborative project created by longtime friends Torsten Zenas Burns and Anthony Discenza. Burns received his BFA in Media Art from New York State College of Art & Design at Alfred University in 1990, and an MFA in Performance and Video from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1993. He currently resides in Holyoke, MA. Anthony Discenza received a BFA in studio art from Wesleyan University in 1990, and an MFA in video from C.C.A.C. in 2000. He currently resides in Oakland, CA.

The HalfLifers create videotapes and installations exploring speculative fictions including zombie relationships, rescue rituals and re-imagined slapstick. Their sculptural installation projects and looping projections have shown at Smackmellon Gallery in New York, the Berkeley Art Museum in California, and at the DiRosa's Gatehouse Gallery in California. Single-channel works, including the Rescue, Action, Island, Pioneer and Afterlifers series' have screened at the Museum of Modern Art in NY, the Whitney Museum of American Art in NY, Catherine Clark Gallery in CA, the New York Video Festival, Video_Dumbo in NY, Chicago Underground Film Festival in IL, Pacific Film Archive in CA, Impakt Festival (Netherlands), European Media Arts Festival (Germany), Pleasuredome in Canada. Their work was included in the book, Radical Light: Alternative Film and Video in the Bay Area, 1945 - 2000.