Frame, Analysis of Movement

June 26, 2004 - Aug. 22, 2004

Center of Photography at Woodstock

curated by Ariel Shanberg: This exhibition presents artists whose work contemplates the intersection of motion and content, and movement and intent, by examining the architecture of the motion picture. Implicit in their work is a contemplation of the still frame and the echo of Eadweard Muybridge’s ground breaking work of the 1870?s, which brought forth the ability to both reduce movement to a series of sequential frames and at the same time led to the ability to represent motion through the continuous projection of film. Each of the artists in f|r|a|m|e create motion studies with a similar obsession as Muybridge, who in his pursuit to record physical movement by animals and humans alike, photographed gestures ranging from the subtle to grand. The revolutionary technological advancements brought on by Muybridge’s explorations and that of his peers, directly changed how we have come to understand and experience time and movement. Yet the artists in f|r|a|m|e go beyond homage or reference. Operating in reverse of Muybridge’s development of bringing the still frame towards the motion picture, 100 years after his death, they reclaim the motion picture as a series of still frames. Their efforts create a forum in which the viewer can consider technology’s impact on our experience of time and movement through the subjectification of individuality, athleticism, history, culture, and the human body within the still moving frame.