CFA Media Mixer 2019: Meet this Year’s Artists

We’re so thrilled to announce the amazing lineup of artists participating in this year’s CFA Media Mixer event. Now in its eighth year (!!!), the Media Mixer has grown to be one of CFA’s most anticipated and exciting public programs. The project began in 2012 as a way to open up our vault of archival footage to Chicago-based contemporary artists, and to support the creation of a new video work by pairing visual artists with artists working with sound. At the heart of the Media Mixer is a desire to give our archival collections new life through the creative interpretation of a new generation of makers.

This year’s artists are (video + sound):

Brian Ashby + Bill MacKay

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 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 Esker (Drag City, 2017), SpiderBeetleBee (Drag City, 2017) his second duo set with Ryley Walker, Altamira (Ears & Eyes, 2015) by his band Darts & Arrows, and Bill MacKay plays the songs of John Hulbert (Tompkins Square, 2015) 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

CFA International Media Mixer 2018: Meet the Artists!

We’re so thrilled to introduce the amazing lineup of artists who are participating in our first ever CFA International Media Mixer! If you aren’t already familiar with the project, please read more about it here.

Giuseppe Boccassini (IT) + Alex Inglizian (US)
Lori Felker (US) + Patrizia Oliva (IT)
Federico Francioni & Yan Cheng (IT) + Tomeka Reid (US)

Domietta Torlasco (US) + Stefano Urkuma De Santis (IT)

GIUSEPPE BOCCASSINI

Giuseppe Boccassini is an Italian filmmaker mainly working in Germany and Italy. He graduated in film theory at the University of Bologna and in film direction at The New University of Cinema and Television in Cinecittà (Rome). His work has been shown at several international film festivals and exhibitions, including FID Marseille (France), Torino Film Festival (Italy), FESTACURTAS BH (Brasil), Punto de Vista (Spain), Trentino History Museum (Italy). By transforming and manipulating various sources of archival material, his work reflects upon the notion of a haptic proximity of contemporary media. He considers film as “a phallic conquerer that, folding in on itself, now flaccid deus ex machina, observes itself from the inside like a lysergic membrane that slowly founders between the folds of its own material”. His most recent collaborations includes the film editing for Aldo Tambellini’s solo exibithion Black Matters, at ZKM Karlsruhe (Germany). He is one of the curators of Fracto, a new experimental film screening event at ACUD macht neu, in Berlin. http://giuseppeboccassini.com/

ALEX INGLIZIAN

Alex Inglizian is a Chicago based artist, composer, musician, engineer and educator. His work explores the boundaries of noise, harmony, silence, space, performance, and improvisation. He is a graduate of The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and is currently a co-director and lead recording engineer at Experimental Sound Studio, an internationally recognized non-profit sound art organization. Alex is also a professor of sound for film studies and music technology at Northwestern University. He frequently performs among the vibrant Chicago experimental music scene and regularly collaborates with local filmmakers. Inglizian is deeply influenced by the rich history of experimental electronic music and free jazz, and continues to draw inspiration from the contemporary artists he works with professionally and creatively on a daily basis. https://soundcloud.com/soundofjoy

LORI FELKER

Lori Felker is a filmmaker/artist, teacher, programmer, and performer. Her films and videos attempt to study the ineloquent, oppositional, delusional, frustrating, and chaotic qualities of human interaction. Lori works in a variety of mediums and styles and has shown her work internationally at a variety of film festivals and art spaces. She lives in Chicago, loves to collaborate, and is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and the Film/Video programmer at Roots & Culture Gallery. http://www.felkercommalori.com/

PATRIZIA OLIVA

Patrizia Oliva is a singer, autor, improviser of experimental music that crosses electronics, electro-acoustic, free jazz and performing arts. Her research is aimed on a redefinition of contemporary singer. She has played with many musicians, among other with Gino Robair, Stefano Giust, Pamelia Kurstin, Edoardo Marraffa, Tommy Greenwood, Martin Mayes, Tristan Honsinger Linda Sharrock, Silvia Bolognesi, Alessandro Bosetti and many others. She has toured Italy, U.S.A, Scotland, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Slovenja, Croatia, Belgium, Austria and Vietnam. Some places and festivals she has played in: AngelicA (Bologna), Fondazione Mudima (Milano), Reggia Venaria (Torino), Limmitationes/Chilli Jazz Festival (Austria), Hanoi New Music Festival (Vietnam), Area Sismica (Forlì), Museum of Modern Art (Ohio, USA), Piccolo Teatro (Milano), ZDB (PT), ZXZW Festival (NL), Fusion Festival (D), The Empire Gallery Galvanised Festival (UK), Spazio O (Milano), Postgarage (AT) and more. She has recorded an impressive number of albums with several experimental labels such as Setola di Maiale, Afe Records, Sonoscopia and many more. https://patriziaoliva.wordpress.com/

FEDERICO FRANCIONI & YAN CHENG

Federico Francioni (1988) graduated in 2010 with a degree in History of Cinema, discussing a thesis about Otar Iosseliani. In 2013 he’s admitted at the National Film School of Italy, the “Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia”. In 2016 he realizes with his colleague Yan Cheng the medium documentary Tomba del Tuffatore (Tomb of the Diver), which premiered at Pesaro Film Festival. In the same year they started working on their first feature documentary, shot in China. In 2017 he attends a course at “Ateliers Varan”, and he’s currently working on a documentary feature in Paris. He’s also curator of an upcoming interview and monography about the french director Eugène Green. After studying history and anthropology in the United States, Yan Cheng (1991) took up his studies at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – the National Film School of Italy (Rome). He has realized various short films and documentaries in China, United States, and Europe. He develops an artistic practice in cinema, contemporary art, and academic research. In 2016 he realizes with Federico Francioni the medium documentary Tomb of the Diver. In the same year they started working on their first feature documentary, shot in China.

TOMEKA REID

Chicago based cellist, composer and educator, Tomeka Reid has been described as “a remarkably versatile player,” (Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune). Equally adept in classical and jazz contexts, Ms. Reid predominantly finds herself in experimental and improvisatory settings and composes for a wide range of instrumentation, from big band to chamber ensemble. Ms. Reid’s music combines her love for groove along with freer concepts. Ms. Reid is an integral part of Dee Alexander’s Evolution Ensemble, Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble/Strings, Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) Great Black Music Ensemble, and co-leads the internationally recognized string trio, Hear in Now with performances in Poznan, Poland; Paris, France; Rome, Venice, Milan, Italy; Soazza, Switzerland; and in the US: Chicago, New York and Vermont. In addition to the aforementioned ensembles, Ms. Reid performs with many of today’s forward thinking musicians in the world of jazz and creative music including Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, Roscoe Mitchell, Jeb Bishop, Myra Melford, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Mary Halvorson, Denis Fournier, Edward Wilkerson and Harrison Bankhead. Ms. Reid also leads her own trio featuring guitarist Matt Schneider and bassist Josh Abrams, for which she composes. Ms. Reid can be heard on numerous studio recordings. As a composer, Ms. Reid has been commissioned by the AACM, the Chicago Jazz Festival and the Chicago Jazz Ensemble and has had several opportunities to showcase her work abroad at festivals such as Umbria Jazz, An Insolent Noise and Vignola Jazz. She has been nominated and awarded residencies for composition with the Ragdale Foundation and the 2nd Annual Make Jazz Fellowship hosted by the 18th Street Arts Organization. Ms. Reid was selected as a 2012 participant in the Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute held at the University of California: Los Angeles. http://www.tomekareid.net/

DOMIETTA TORLASCO

Domietta Torlasco is a critical theorist, filmmaker, and associate professor of Italian and comparative literature at Northwestern University. She is the author of two books: The Time of the Crime: Phenomenology, Psychoanalysis, Italian Film (Stanford University Press, 2008) and The Heretical Archive: Digital Memory at the End of Film (University of Minnesota Press, 2013), both investigating cinema’s capacity to remember forgotten pasts and imagine alternative futures. In recent years, her research has expanded into the domain of audiovisual practice and found in the essay its most proper form. While mixing fiction and documentary, her pieces perform an inquiry into the political stakes of a series of aesthetic operations—the framing of spaces, the tracing of borders, the delimitation of enclosures (domestic or otherwise), wherein people are asked to live together. Her video essays have screened at national and international venues, including the Galerie Campagne Première in Berlin.

STEFANO URKUMA DE SANTIS

URKUMA is Stefano De Santis, born in the South-east part of Italy. He began his artistic career as a playwright, and later developed his unique musical approach to translate his theatre concepts into sound. The word Urkuma is specific to the FinisTerrae part of Italy and expresses a state of mind, that is possible to compare with the opposite to the Buddhist concept of nirvana. Urkuma did releases, performances and installations in Italy, Poland, Usa, Austria, Swiss, Slovack Rep., Japan and has collaborated with a wide range of musicians. Live, Urkuma is used to play anything within his reach, including small electronic devices, clarinet, TrumpLoo, home-built instruments and tapes. https://vimeo.com/98934499

CFA Media Mixer 2017 (in review)

As 2017 comes to a close, we’re reflecting back on some of our favorite events and this year’s Media Mixer (our 6th annual) was a definite highlight! We had so much fun at the Hideout (as usual!) and this year’s videos were fantastic. They’re streaming below for you to enjoy.

2017′s talented lineup included:

Eric Fleischauer + Matchess
Samantha Hill + Haptic
Marianna Milhorat + Brian Kirkbride

More on this year’s artists here!

VVAVEFORMSENTITY
eric fleischauer & Matchess

An Anthology of Kinship
Samantha Hill & Haptic

Sky Room
Marianna Milhorat & Brian Kirkbride

2018 International Media Mixer!

The Chicago Film Archives (Chicago, IL) and Lab 80 – Cinescatti (Bergamo, Italy) are thrilled to announce a new international artistic collaboration—the 2018 International Media Mixer! This project is one of 15 artistic partnerships supported by the MacArthur Foundation’s International Connections Fund.

The International Media Mixer is a cross-cultural “call and response” exchange, bringing together artists from two different countries to explore the process of creating hybrid works of media art. The project sheds new light on the international practice of media conservation and artistic creation.

Here’s how it works: Michelle Puetz, Curator of Public Programming at the Chicago Film Archives, and Karianne Fiorini, film archivist and curator associated with Lab 80 – Cinescatti, each commissioned two local video artists and two local sound artists to collaborate on the creation of four new videos using archival footage. Here is where the exchange comes in: the two filmmakers from Italy and Chicago create new works using digitized footage from the partner archive (Italian-based artists use footage from the Chicago Film Archives and Chicago-based artists use footage from Lab 80 – Cinescatti). Each new silent video is then scored by the sound artists/musicians from the partnering country. Upon completion, the four new pieces will screen in the US and in Italy with live accompaniment by the musicians who created the scores.

The artists selected for the 2018 International Media Mixer are:

Giuseppe Boccassini (IT) + Alex Inglizian (US)
Lori Felker (US) + Patrizia Oliva (IT)
Federico Francioni & Yan Cheng (IT) + Tomeka Reid (US)
Domietta Torlasco (US) + Stefano Urkuma De Santis (IT)

STAY TUNED FOR MORE UPDATES AND INFORMATION!

Chicago Film Archives (CFA) is a regional film archive dedicated to identifying, collecting, preserving, and providing access to films that represent the Midwestern United States. CFA’s purpose is to serve institutions and filmmakers of this region and elsewhere by being a repository for institutional and private film collections; serve a variety of cultural, academic, and artistic communities by making the films available locally, nationally, and internationally for exhibition, research, and production; and serve our culture by conserving films that are rare or not in existence elsewhere.

CFA was formed in late 2003 to house, preserve and care for the Chicago Public Library’s collection of 4,500 16mm films—a collection the library could no longer keep. These films became a springboard for CFA to develop as a regional film archive committed to the acquisition, preservation, study, and exhibition of films that reflect the character and heritage of the Midwest. Since 2003, the archive has acquired over 120 collections containing approximately 27,000 films, videotapes, audiotapes, and ephemera—all donated by Midwest filmmakers, collectors, and institutions.

Laboratorio 80 is the oldest cinematographic association in Italy. Active since 1956, when it was known as the Cineforum di Bergamo, Lab 80 offers both theoretical and practical studies in cinema. In 1976, the organization became a worker cooperative and was renamed Lab 80 film. In the late 1990s, Lab 80 film added a production division, and continues to organize festivals and screenings, distribute films, operate a theater, and offer courses and workshops about cinema.

In 2010, Lab 80 initiated an archival project—Cinescatti—which is dedicated to collecting and providing access to home movies and amateur films related to the city and province of Bergamo. The Cinescatti archive consists of 3,000 home movies and amateur films shot in 16mm, 9.5mm, and 8mm between the early 1920s and the 1980s. Made by amateur filmmakers from in and around the city and province of Bergamo, the films represent a variety of cultural backgrounds and experiences. Most of the films in the Cinescatti archive have been digitized and are accessible for specific projects, research, and film production.