Alexander Stewart

Chicago and the Universe
New Chicago film & video from 2008

Thursday December 11, Aula screening hall, KHM (Academy for Media Arts) Cologne, Germany, 4:00 pm

Sunday December 14, Tät gallery, Berlin, Germany, 6:00 pm

[November 22]

Chicago and the Universe
New Chicago film & video from 2008
Roots & Culture gallery
November 22, 2008
Two screening times: 8:00 pm and 10:00 pm

This program collects a range of outstanding film & video pieces made by Chicago artists in 2008, in order to take the pulse of current moods and attitudes about moving image work in Chicago. All operating in the mode of personal, artistic and non-commercial cinema, the ten shorts in this program include examples of animation, experimental narrative, science fiction, political, psychedelic and found footage work by young Chicago artists.

Films in program:
Animated GIF of the Day Compilation, Pizza Dog
Yard Work is Hard Work, Jodie Mack
Self-Control, Latham Zearfoss
No Man’s Land, Chelsea Tonelli Knight
Morton Salt Factory, Tim Ridlen
Buoy Boy, Jesse McManus
Night Walks, George Monteleone
Black Iron Vatican, Andy Roche
The Universe and Young Pilot Nelson, Jerzy Rose
Man’s Hands, Christopher Santiago
All Through The Night, Michael Robinson.

[October 31]

On the Logic of Dubious Historical Accounts, 1969-1972, a film made in collaboration with Peter Miller, will screen in Chicago as part of the Chicago Underground Film Festival. This is a short film showing Hasselblad cameras falling through space and hitting the surface of the moon. This piece lies somewhere at the intersection of forged documentation, camera fetishism and the logic of dubious historical accounts.

Screening 9:15 pm Friday October 31, Viaduct Theater, 3111 N. Western Ave., Chicago.

[October 5]

Errata will be screened as part of the Nightingale's Chicago Animator screening - the Chicago Primer October Screamer. Two screenings, both on Sunday, Oct. 5, at 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm. From Cine-File:

"An all-local-animation show, screening as part of Chicago Artists Month. The Nightingale writes: “In order to gear up for Halloween, we have chosen some of the quirkiest, quietest, and creepiest short work to stimulate your amygdala region.” Included is Alexander Stewart’s amazing “Xerox” animation, ERRATA (2005), which creates a subtle and ever-changing abstract work reminiscent of Action painting through the use of hundreds of photocopied images. Plus work of all shades of animation-imagination by Jodie Mack, Jim Trainor, Yoonah Nam, Chris Hefner, Sean Buckelew, Seungwon Lee, Jason Halprin, Andy Cahill, Gretta Johnson, and David Essman. Several artists in person. PF"

Sunday, October 5
2 pm and 6 pm
1084 N Milwaukee Ave at Thomas St

[Late Summer 08]

Three screenings are lined up for late summer and fall at R&C. Jim Trainor will present a video mixtape as part of the Zummer Tapez series on August 30, and Tom Comerford will screen a program of 16mm work at Nightingale on September 12. Thorne Brandt and Pizza Dog have something from the outer limits of the universe of animation in the works for October.

[July 13]

A program representing the Roots & Culture screening series will run this month at the Harold Arts residency, held outside of Chesterhill, Ohio. The program includes work by Melika Bass, Michael Robinson, Jared Larson, Chelsea Knight, Inge Hoonte, Eric Patrick and Andy Roche.

[June 27]

Roots & Culture gallery was chosen as Best Gallery in the Reader's Best of Chicago 2008 survey. The writeup includes a blurb on the screening series.

[Summer 08]

I have a couple of projects I'm working on this summer - In July and August, I'll be doing some shoots in Alabama as part of my Ft. Morgan project. I have just finished building a multiplane animation stand which looks like it might be used for a collaborative animation with Lilli Carre. And, in late June/early July, I am working on a documentary/experimental piece about tactics in match-sprint velodrome racing. Below is an image of Mathew Jinks on location recording some sound for the project.

[May 9]

Campaign-trail documents by Bill Stamets
Friday, May 9, 2008
8:00 pm
Nightingale Theater, 1084 N. Milwaukee (corner of Milwaukee & Thomas)
$5 suggested donation

As the 2008 presidential campaign plods on, perhaps it’s time for a flashback to the dark days of late-20th-century campaigning.

Chicago documenter Bill Stamets brings out three campaign-trail treasures, primary, caucus, convention, and inauguration footage shot in ‘88, ‘92 and ‘96. With a light touch reminiscent of Frederick Wiseman, these documents provide a look back at past political landscapes. In the first few minutes of these films, we get a distinct impression that the players rotate, but the political game stays the same. But after a half-hour of watching Stamets’s films, and recognizing politician after politician, it becomes clear that the faces of our political landscape really haven’t changed in twenty years: Al Gore, Bob Dole, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader, Hillary Clinton, Pat Buchannan. What really changes in this quadrennial game?

Armed with a Super-8 and later a Hi-8 camera, Stamets embeds wth the press-corps using amateur cameras to notice moments at the margins of the “real” reportage. In this day of incessant, round-the-clock audio and video coverage of all candidates, Stamets’s films have a strange sense of prescience to them. On one hand, they anticipate the intense coverage of unscripted moments with cell phones and miniature digital camcorders that cam make or break a candidate who slips even the tiniest bit. But more interestingly, they are situated in a historical moment when that type of equipment was available for those purposes, but before it became so common that politicians learned to fully protect themselves or manipulate it. The masterful charisma of Bill Clinton is striking in these films, as is a fleeting moment of what looks like boredom mixed with dread that crosses Jesse Jackson’s face in the midst of an Iowa meet’ n’ greet.

[May 2]

On Friday, May 2, 2008, I will be presenting a program of videos at Curtis Hall in the Fine Arts Building (410 S. Michigan) as part of Looptopia. The videos are highlights from the screening series I have been running at Roots & Culture gallery since the fall of 2006. Featured in the program will be works from Inge Hoonte, Chelsea Knight, Jared Larsen, Andy Roche, Brendan Meara, Xander Marro, Eric Patrick and Melika Bass. The pieces in the program are some of my favorite films and videos that have come through the gallery in the past year and a half, and I think it's a really excellent collection of outstanding work by local and national artists. The show starts at 9:00 pm, and will last 1 hour 45 mins.

[April 12] This Saturday, April 12, Roots & Culture will be hosting a screening of films by Melika Bass. With a seductive aesthetic that combines experimental narrative practices with poetic scenarios and visual lyricism, Bass's short films are beautifully-constructed mysteries without simple answers, or even simple questions. Her films offer a glimpse into a half-remembered dream world that tempers its surreal elegance with grit, grime and heartbreak inherited from eastern-European film tradition. Included in this Roots & Culture screening will be Bass's films Songs from the Shed (2008), The Quarry (2007), Bulb in the Head (2006), Story Ever Told (2005) and Asleep in the Deep (2002) as well as some surprise treats Bass has collected for the evening.
8:00 pm, Roots & Culture gallery, 1034 N. Milwukee Ave, admission free.

[March 4 - 16] Errata will be screened at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, as part of a program of videos presented by Tim Ridlen and Boots Contemporary Arts Space.

[February 29] Errata will be featured in the Motion Graphics Festival 08 in Boston, presented through Lumen Eclipse. The event includes work from artists, filmmakers and motion graphics professionals. There will be an opening reception and screening on Friday, February 29 from 7:00-9:00 pm at the Middlesex Lounge (315 Mass Ave) in Cambridge. Afterwards, Errata will be on display on a video kiosk in Harvard Square, as well as online through the Lumen Eclipse site.

[January] A new Flash animation Lilli and I did for the Point, titled "The Smart Shopper," is up on their site. Be sure to check out the Chicago Winter Dome campaign, as well as Lilli's great rollover illustration for the "About Us" page. And while you're at it, view this informative and entertaining video on the Point by founder Andrew Mason.

[January] The second edition of the SAIC Film Video & New Media DVD is available through the FVNM department. This year's DVD contains my movie Errata as well as some fantastic work by Lilli Carré, Mark Gallay & Noe Kidder, Christopher Becks and other recent graduates.

News archive.



animation	installation	other projects	Deadtech	Roots & Culture	links

		Chicago and the Universe New Chicago film & video from 2008 Thursday December 11, Aula screening hall, KHM (Academy for Media Arts) Cologne, Germany, 4:00 pm Sunday December 14, Tät gallery, Berlin, Germany, 6:00 pm [November 22] Chicago and the Universe New Chicago film & video from 2008 Roots & Culture gallery November 22, 2008 Two screening times: 8:00 pm and 10:00 pm This program collects a range of outstanding film & video pieces made by Chicago artists in 2008, in order to take the pulse of current moods and attitudes about moving image work in Chicago. All operating in the mode of personal, artistic and non-commercial cinema, the ten shorts in this program include examples of animation, experimental narrative, science fiction, political, psychedelic and found footage work by young Chicago artists. Films in program: Animated GIF of the Day Compilation, Pizza Dog Yard Work is Hard Work, Jodie Mack Self-Control, Latham Zearfoss No Man’s Land, Chelsea Tonelli Knight Morton Salt Factory, Tim Ridlen Buoy Boy, Jesse McManus Night Walks, George Monteleone Black Iron Vatican, Andy Roche The Universe and Young Pilot Nelson, Jerzy Rose Man’s Hands, Christopher Santiago All Through The Night, Michael Robinson. [October 31] On the Logic of Dubious Historical Accounts, 1969-1972, a film made in collaboration with Peter Miller, will screen in Chicago as part of the Chicago Underground Film Festival. This is a short film showing Hasselblad cameras falling through space and hitting the surface of the moon. This piece lies somewhere at the intersection of forged documentation, camera fetishism and the logic of dubious historical accounts. Screening 9:15 pm Friday October 31, Viaduct Theater, 3111 N. Western Ave., Chicago. [October 5] Errata will be screened as part of the Nightingale's Chicago Animator screening - the Chicago Primer October Screamer. Two screenings, both on Sunday, Oct. 5, at 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm. From Cine-File: "An all-local-animation show, screening as part of Chicago Artists Month. The Nightingale writes: “In order to gear up for Halloween, we have chosen some of the quirkiest, quietest, and creepiest short work to stimulate your amygdala region.” Included is Alexander Stewart’s amazing “Xerox” animation, ERRATA (2005), which creates a subtle and ever-changing abstract work reminiscent of Action painting through the use of hundreds of photocopied images. Plus work of all shades of animation-imagination by Jodie Mack, Jim Trainor, Yoonah Nam, Chris Hefner, Sean Buckelew, Seungwon Lee, Jason Halprin, Andy Cahill, Gretta Johnson, and David Essman. Several artists in person. PF" Sunday, October 5 2 pm and 6 pm 1084 N Milwaukee Ave at Thomas St [Late Summer 08] Three screenings are lined up for late summer and fall at R&C. Jim Trainor will present a video mixtape as part of the Zummer Tapez series on August 30, and Tom Comerford will screen a program of 16mm work at Nightingale on September 12. Thorne Brandt and Pizza Dog have something from the outer limits of the universe of animation in the works for October. [July 13] A program representing the Roots & Culture screening series will run this month at the Harold Arts residency, held outside of Chesterhill, Ohio. The program includes work by Melika Bass, Michael Robinson, Jared Larson, Chelsea Knight, Inge Hoonte, Eric Patrick and Andy Roche. [June 27] Roots & Culture gallery was chosen as Best Gallery in the Reader's Best of Chicago 2008 survey. The writeup includes a blurb on the screening series. [Summer 08] I have a couple of projects I'm working on this summer - In July and August, I'll be doing some shoots in Alabama as part of my Ft. Morgan project. I have just finished building a multiplane animation stand which looks like it might be used for a collaborative animation with Lilli Carre. And, in late June/early July, I am working on a documentary/experimental piece about tactics in match-sprint velodrome racing. Below is an image of Mathew Jinks on location recording some sound for the project. [May 9] Campaign-trail documents by Bill Stamets Friday, May 9, 2008 8:00 pm Nightingale Theater, 1084 N. Milwaukee (corner of Milwaukee & Thomas) $5 suggested donation As the 2008 presidential campaign plods on, perhaps it’s time for a flashback to the dark days of late-20th-century campaigning. Chicago documenter Bill Stamets brings out three campaign-trail treasures, primary, caucus, convention, and inauguration footage shot in ‘88, ‘92 and ‘96. With a light touch reminiscent of Frederick Wiseman, these documents provide a look back at past political landscapes. In the first few minutes of these films, we get a distinct impression that the players rotate, but the political game stays the same. But after a half-hour of watching Stamets’s films, and recognizing politician after politician, it becomes clear that the faces of our political landscape really haven’t changed in twenty years: Al Gore, Bob Dole, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader, Hillary Clinton, Pat Buchannan. What really changes in this quadrennial game? Armed with a Super-8 and later a Hi-8 camera, Stamets embeds wth the press-corps using amateur cameras to notice moments at the margins of the “real” reportage. In this day of incessant, round-the-clock audio and video coverage of all candidates, Stamets’s films have a strange sense of prescience to them. On one hand, they anticipate the intense coverage of unscripted moments with cell phones and miniature digital camcorders that cam make or break a candidate who slips even the tiniest bit. But more interestingly, they are situated in a historical moment when that type of equipment was available for those purposes, but before it became so common that politicians learned to fully protect themselves or manipulate it. The masterful charisma of Bill Clinton is striking in these films, as is a fleeting moment of what looks like boredom mixed with dread that crosses Jesse Jackson’s face in the midst of an Iowa meet’ n’ greet. [May 2] On Friday, May 2, 2008, I will be presenting a program of videos at Curtis Hall in the Fine Arts Building (410 S. Michigan) as part of Looptopia. The videos are highlights from the screening series I have been running at Roots & Culture gallery since the fall of 2006. Featured in the program will be works from Inge Hoonte, Chelsea Knight, Jared Larsen, Andy Roche, Brendan Meara, Xander Marro, Eric Patrick and Melika Bass. The pieces in the program are some of my favorite films and videos that have come through the gallery in the past year and a half, and I think it's a really excellent collection of outstanding work by local and national artists. The show starts at 9:00 pm, and will last 1 hour 45 mins. [April 12] This Saturday, April 12, Roots & Culture will be hosting a screening of films by Melika Bass. With a seductive aesthetic that combines experimental narrative practices with poetic scenarios and visual lyricism, Bass's short films are beautifully-constructed mysteries without simple answers, or even simple questions. Her films offer a glimpse into a half-remembered dream world that tempers its surreal elegance with grit, grime and heartbreak inherited from eastern-European film tradition. Included in this Roots & Culture screening will be Bass's films Songs from the Shed (2008), The Quarry (2007), Bulb in the Head (2006), Story Ever Told (2005) and Asleep in the Deep (2002) as well as some surprise treats Bass has collected for the evening. 8:00 pm, Roots & Culture gallery, 1034 N. Milwukee Ave, admission free. [March 4 - 16] Errata will be screened at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, as part of a program of videos presented by Tim Ridlen and Boots Contemporary Arts Space. [February 29] Errata will be featured in the Motion Graphics Festival 08 in Boston, presented through Lumen Eclipse. The event includes work from artists, filmmakers and motion graphics professionals. There will be an opening reception and screening on Friday, February 29 from 7:00-9:00 pm at the Middlesex Lounge (315 Mass Ave) in Cambridge. Afterwards, Errata will be on display on a video kiosk in Harvard Square, as well as online through the Lumen Eclipse site. [January] A new Flash animation Lilli and I did for the Point, titled "The Smart Shopper," is up on their site. Be sure to check out the Chicago Winter Dome campaign, as well as Lilli's great rollover illustration for the "About Us" page. And while you're at it, view this informative and entertaining video on the Point by founder Andrew Mason. [January] The second edition of the SAIC Film Video & New Media DVD is available through the FVNM department. This year's DVD contains my movie Errata as well as some fantastic work by Lilli Carré, Mark Gallay & Noe Kidder, Christopher Becks and other recent graduates. News archive.


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