Come see the premiere of three new works created by Chicago-based artists using footage from the Chicago Film Archives collection!
The Media Mixer project started in 2012 as a way to open up CFA’s vault of archival footage to artists working in media, and to support the creation of a new video work by pairing these visual artists with artists working with sound. At the heart of the project is a desire to give CFA’s archival collections new life through the creative interpretation of contemporary artists. As a result, three new collaborative videos will be made using footage from the Chicago Film Archives collection.
This year’s artists are (video + sound):
Emily Eddy + Natalie Chami (TALsounds)
Amir George + Lilianna Zofia Wosko
Please join us at Constellation on May 9 for the world premiere of their collaborations – performed with live audio! Tickets are available for advance purchase here.
More on this year’s artists:
Brian Ashby is a Chicago-based filmmaker, and co-founder of the documentary production company Scrappers Film Group. He recently produced and edited The Area, a five-year chronicle of displacement in a South Side neighborhood, which the Reader calls “an eye-opening saga of resistance.” He co-directed Central Standard: On Education and Scrappers, one of Roger Ebert’s Best Documentaries of 2010. His work as producer includes Hairy Who & the Chicago Imagists and Westermann: Memorial to the Idea of Man If He Was an Idea. He spends his free time browsing Chicago Film Archives’ YouTube page.
Natalie Chami adopted the TALsounds moniker in 2009 for her explorations in the drone, ambient, and electro-acoustic improv disciplines. In live performance, Chami’s analog synthesizers weave together into drifting loops that evolve in tandem with her vocal leads and choral harmonies. Her meditative sessions stretch into hypnotizing depths of stream-of-consciousness multi-instrumental input, sinking into expanses of infinite sustain and cresting into bursts of noise from an arsenal of oscillators and effects pedals.
After a series of tape releases on labels like Hausu Mountain and Moog’s own physical imprint, Chami released her first TALsounds LP, Love Sick, with New York’s Ba Da Bing Records. She has performed across America and Canada, and traveled to Europe in 2018 for a string of dates with Chicago composer Haley Fohr (Circuit Des Yeux). As a member of free music trio Good Willsmith, she has toured the US and released eight albums since 2012, including the LPs The Honeymoon Workbook (2014) and Things Our Bodies Used To Have (2016) on Mexico City-based label Umor Rex. Chami also performs as half of ambient duo l’eternebre and regularly collaborates in informal improv ensembles with musicians from Chicago and beyond, including frequent tour-mate Whitney Johnson (Matchess). She is Lebanese, was born in Ontario, and lives in Chicago. http://talsounds.com/
Photo of Emily Eddy by Danielle Campbell
Emily Eddy is a film, video, and digital media artist and curator based in Chicago. Combining many forms of moving image, her work utilizes strategies of video diaries, archival practices, and experimental documentaries. She is the Development and Marketing Manager at Video Data Bank where she is proud to promote artists’ video, and she directs the Nightingale Cinema where she has curated film, video, and media works since 2013. Emily also serves as programmer of the Onion City Experimental Film + Video Festival, a project of Chicago Filmmakers. Emily has curated screenings and exhibited work at many venues in Chicago as well as in Los Angeles, CA; Milwaukee, WI; Reykjavík, Iceland; and her hometown, Portland, OR. http://emily-eddy.com
Amir George is a filmmaker and curator based in Chicago. George is a programmer at True/False Film Fest and the founder of The Cinema Culture, a grassroots film programming organization, and co-founder (with curator Erin Christovale) of Black Radical Imagination, a touring experimental short film series. As an artist, George creates spiritual stories, juxtaposing sound and image into an experience of non-linear perception. George’s films have screened at institutions and film festivals including the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, Anthology Film Archives, Glasgow School of Art, The Museum of Contemporary Arts Detroit, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Trinidad and Tobago International Film Festival, BlackStar Film Festival, Afrikana Film Festival, and Chicago Underground Film Festival, among others. http://amirgeorge.com/aboutme
Photo of Bill MacKay by Mikel Patrick Avery
Bill MacKay’s blissful harmonic control and just-outside-the-box guitar mastery are one with his compelling songwriting. His creative voyage and imaginative influences are fully displayed on his Drag City debut, Esker and just released follow-up Fountain Fire, and his live performances are unmatched.
MacKay cut his teeth in various bands and projects spanning genres across the United States, and has created an extensive body of original work, while energizing the folk, avant-garde, and experimental diaspora.
His most recent records Fountain Fire (Drag City, 2019) Esker (Drag City, 2017), and SpiderBeetleBee (Drag City, 2017) his second duo set with Ryley Walker, reveal a startling range – from the folk of Appalachia, avant-rock, and blues to gospel, jazz, raga-esque excursions, and western-country modes. His records have received praise in reviews by the Chicago Reader, Mojo, The Ear, Uncut, Downbeat, Paste, Pitchfork and New City among other publications. https://billmackay.com/
Lilianna Zofia Wosko is a Chicago based classically trained cellist with primary focus on solo and chamber music performance. Lilianna received her Masters in Music in Cello Performance from Roosevelt University Chicago College of Performing Arts Music Conservatory.
Lilianna has appeared with classical, jazz, new music and international music ensembles in the Chicago area and abroad. She has performed with the Illinois Philharmonic, The Paderewski Symphony Orchestra, and Lira Ensemble, and was a principal cellist of The New North Shore Chamber Orchestra. In her commitment to expanding her repertoire, Lilianna incorporates elements of different musical genres into her style and has been a part of Alama de Tango Ensemble, Tangata Ensemble, Tomorrow Music Orchestra, Dolce String Quartet, and Star Gate Orchestra. Often asked to perform for various cultural and music events, Lilianna has been a part of the MusicNow concert series at the Chicago’s Harris Theater for Music and Dance, The Rose of Stambul production at Chopin Theatre with Chicago Folks Operetta, Chris Preissing’s Thunder Perfect Mind production with NON:op, and has played with Borderbend Arts Collective at the Baha’i Temple as part of the “Devotions with Music” series.
Actively involved in the Chicago music community, Lilianna has worked and performed with Fred Lonberg-Holm, Frank Rosaly, Paul Giallorenzo, Matt Ulery, Mike Reed, Timothy Daisy, Joel Styzens, Eric Leonardson, Christopher Preissing, Ben LaMar, Renee Baker, Quinlan Kirchner, Kahil El Zabar, and Theaster Gates. Lilianna has recorded music for commercials at Earhole Studios, performed and recorded with Grazyna Auguscik, and released four of her own CDs: My Christmas, Edited to form, Episodes 1-12, and Lilianna Zofia Wosko. www.liliannazofiawosko.com
The 2019 Media Mixer is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.