about the art
This month we’re presenting a multi-disciplinary artistic exchange between Mattie Barbier, Daria Kaufman, and Lewis Keller, paired with visual art by Amabelle Aguiluz. Inspired by the idea of filtering, experiencing this art is like peering through a series of artistic contributions, each filtering the previous to reveal new aspects of the art we might not otherwise notice.
The video is an exquisite-corpse-style collaboration that combines sound, dance, and video processing. It began with an audio track Mattie Barbier contributed from their upcoming album, threads, which was recorded in a giant metal tank with 20 second reverb. In the track, they recorded their trombone using a mute that filters the instrument’s sound to highlight certain overtones. While listening to Mattie’s recording, dancer Daria Kaufman created and filmed a series of movements inspired by Mattie’s sounds. Then, musician and video artist Lewis Keller transformed Daria’s dance and visualized Mattie’s sound into a landscape of contrast and digital artifacts.
Amabelle Aguiluz’s process-based fiber sculpture, Cycles II, was constructed using a knitting movement meditation where Amabelle attaches herself to a knitting machine and shifts her body back and forth to create shapes with thread. Cycles II is made of six rings of knitted webs arranged like a series of portals meant to be peered through. Each ring filters and reorients the viewer’s experience of the adjacent knitted shapes.