Alexander Fingrutd + Bengisu Uykusu
September 4 -17, 2022
“Press Pound to Connect” by Alexander Fingrutd
Tell us about the artwork. What makes it unique?
This film was hand processed, shot on 16mm film, and created using a masking technique and appropriated images. The nine equal parts reference the Pound Sign on a telephone keypad. Here, it is used as a symbol for connection. We are connected to more than what is immediately around ourselves: to each other, the planet, and the farthest galaxies. What distant things are having an effect on us and what are we non-visibly affecting? The similarities between these connections are represented through overlapping images. It shows a change in perspective, going from the individual singular self, to a view where there is no divide between self and other. It brings us to a cosmic, all-encompassing view, divided in space and tied together through telephone wire.
Tell us about yourself. How did you come to be an artist in video/digital media?
Alexander Fingrutd is an experimental filmmaker, animator, and photographer from Philadelphia who primarily works in analog film formats. In 2021, he graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a concentration in film, video, new media, and animation. His work has been shown at national and international film exhibitions, including; Antimatter [Media Art], Moviate Underground Film Festival, Revolutions per Minute Festival, Frame & Frequency, Non-Syntax Experimental Image Festival, among others. His short film “Carbon Dust” was awarded Best Cinematography at FUSE (Film Under Severe Experiment) in 2020 and Best Film at Swedenborg Film Festival in 2021.
Fingrutd’s work is concerned with using film as an artist’s material and medium. He works with the organic, textural, and photochemical properties within film to explore ideas around underlying connections, evolutionary processes, and optical phenomena. His films examine ways in which people connect through various forms of communication, using universal symbols, and through base elements. His passionate research in the history of experimental cinema influenced his own filmmaking practice by drawing on both contemporary and traditional cinematographic techniques.
“Your Own Personal Buddha” by Bengisu Uykusu
Tell us about the artwork. What makes it unique?
“Loneliness and your craving for the ideal community... Real-life boundaries construct barriers around you in your daily life that do not bring you pleasure or happiness. You may find serenity in a reimagined community and religious cult. Perhaps the most effective approach to portray your ideal self in the virtual world is to first represent your own religious cult.”
“Your own personal Buddha, follow her/him/them and touch faith... This work is a tribute to Nam June Paik and Martin Gore. It shows the process of creating your own reimagined religious cult as well as the creation of her/his/their alter ego which becomes remarkably meditative. (It is a work of art -fiction-. It doesn't intend to outrage, insult or hurt any religion or the religious organization sentiments, beliefs, or feelings of any person or community.)”
Tell us about yourself. How did you come to be an artist in video/digital media?
“Bengisu Uykusu is a multidisciplinary artist working in the fields of photography, video and sound-art. Since she is very curious about the universe, her current works explore cultural memory and the environment. As Socrates puts it, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Bengisu is a storyteller who designs the materials and vibrations that are extracted from the surrounding environment. For her, making art is a process of interacting with the cosmos.”