PARISS is in post-production and is nearing completion! My edits are ready and composer
Michael McDermott and I are meeting in New York to record the score with janus. I'm
working on sound and color correction and am very excited to see this project coming together.
I have posted some stills here.

The film was shot in November at Powel House. Tension between two characters (played by
Guin Buchan and Andrew Prayzner) finds abstracted form in the movements of two dancers
(Lydia Adler Okrent and Strauss Bourque-LaFrance).

The film will be installed at Powel House in Philadelphia from March 12, 2010, through April 4, 2010.

Read up on beautiful San Serriffe here.

Wanna Kiss Myself will screen as part of "Hurts So Good," a video exhibition at Rowan University curated by Jenny Drumgoole and Jennie Thwing.

I'll be part of the panel discussion during the opening on November 19. The show runs until January 8, 2010.

Rowan University Art Gallery
201 Mullica Hill Road
Glassboro, NJ 08028

Next up: a series of film "multiples" to be presented during Philagrafika 2010: The Graphic Unconscious, a multi-site exhibition of contemporary art. The project reinterprets the concepts and practices of printmaking, here through film and installation, and plays with framing, narratives, and the use of music to influence viewers and elicit reactions.

The films will be shot and exhibited in Powel House, an 18th-century townhouse in the historic Society Hill section of Philadelphia. Composer Michael McDermott (Mikronesia) and janus, a contemporary chamber trio, will collaborate to create a range of sounds and music that situate the films in the house's historic period -- with harp, flute, and viola -- but are also patently current. Working with Janus and Mike is an exciting process, and I've been waiting for just the right project to embark on with them.

This series constitutes the first part of my residency at the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks, through their Landmarks Exhibitions: Contemporary Projects program and the guidance of curator Robert Wuilfe.

Another chance to see Virtual Boring., a recent piece from my
I-House show.

Invasive Species, a group show of work by Nexus members, is in the Duke Gallery at the Wallingford Community Arts Center from May 8 through June 19, with an opening reception on May 8 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

The Wallingford Community Arts Center
414 Plush Mill Road, Wallingford, PA 19086

Wanna Kiss Myself will screen (in adulterated form) at Slought Foundation, May 15 through June 15, 2009.

1:5:25: Emergent Perspectives features the work of 25 Philadelphia-based video artists and architects.

The opening: Friday, May 15, 6:30 to 9:30.

My latest digital video project, made with fellow filmmaker
David S. Kessler, is currently screening in the lobby at I-House in West Philadelphia (3701 Chestnut St.). The video will be up through May 1st and can be viewed during regular gallery hours (Mon - Fri, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and weeknights and weekends when movies are scheduled), as well as during the opening reception on Wednesday, March 18th, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Part film, part video game, "Virtual Boring." draws viewers into a video game environment in which buttons, levels, and goals are subsumed by the churning imagery and jerky rhythms of early cinema. Borrowing visual and sound cues from video games but eliminating the interactive element, this short follows three very amusing performers -- Anna Matijasic, Kate O'Halloran, and Lydia Adler Okrent -- as they vie for the attention of the player, a tiny teacup with its own unusual agenda.

Oh, here I am, chatting away about "Wanna Kiss Myself." A highly recommended use of 5 minutes of your time.

Check it out on NEXUStv. (While you're there, see what some of the other artist members of NEXUS have to say about their own work. This series is produced by Kaci Crooks.)

Two days of shooting in a sealed-up Kensington rowhouse in the heat of mid-summer -- thank you, everybody, for not melting. Cast and crew covered a lot of ground on a very compressed schedule, and the results are great. We captured some really cool performances and a lot of levity and a lot of color.

A thank you goes out to cast members Mariya Dimov, Jor Kane, Shan Mahmud, Lydia Adler Okrent, Daniele Paloumpis, Gabrielle Revlock, Michele Tantoco, Kathryn TeBordo, Damon Reaves, and Claudia van Poperingen, for their enthusiastic participation, and Daniel Short, for assisting with P2 card transfers on-set (and for a cameo in the kitchen scene). Thanks also to Willie Hoffman and Angela Jerardi, for assisting with set prep. Last but not least, thanks to my parents, Frank and Birdie Makary, for catering and gofering, and to my brother, Ross Makary, for electrical expertise and for being awesome and having giant, weird, portable electrical jimjams.

Horse (2006) will be presented as a video installation during
the Z-in-Motion festival at the Zodiak Centre for New Dance in Helsinki, Finland, May 17 and 18.

The installation will be exhibited alongside screenings of dance films that present perspectives on the female persona. Other artists include Jodi Oberfelder and Sara Joel, Liz Agiss and Billy Cowie, Rosemary Butcher, and Abi Ighodaro. The series was curated by Talal Al-Muhanna, an independent curator and dance artist.

If you live in or near Helsinki, like dance films, read English, and have been to my Web site and are reading this, you should definitely come to this event.

Two video new pieces, "The Insignificant Epic Proportionally" and "Gold Sounds," will be on view from February 14 through March 7 at NEXUS:foundation for today's art in the Crane Arts Building (1400 N. American). This group show also includes work by sculptor Leah Reynolds and multimedia artist Blaine Siegel.

"The Insignificant Epic Proportionally" is digital video from the Prelinger Archives reworked in Adobe AfterEffects and is my first animated work. "Gold Sounds," an audio installation, furthers my experiments in comic timing and is, like a lot of my work, another big excuse to use the unintentionally funny work of Foley artists.

The show opens Thursday, February 14 with a reception from 6 - 9 p.m. Stop by for Valentine cupcakes!