(PDF) (DOC) (JPG)October 21, 2013

(MAHWAH, NJ) – Resurrecting “A Mechanical Medium,” an art exhibition presenting a new iteration of a performance by experimental filmmaker Zoe Beloff, in collaboration with sound artist Ken Gen Montgomery opens at Ramapo College on November 6. Two performances will be presented in the Adler Theater of the Berrie Center at 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.  Seating for the performances will be limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis only. Doors will close promptly at the beginning of each performance and remain closed for the duration. Each performance will last approximately 45 minutes. There will be an opening reception in the Pascal Gallery on November 6 from 5 to 7 p.m.

In addition to developing this version of their performance, Beloff and Montgomery will produce a site-specific, projected image and immersive sound installation in the Pascal Gallery which will serve as an echo of the performance.

A Mechanical Medium, originally conceived in 1999 and last performed at the 2001 Whitney Biennial, is a stereoscopic slide, film, and sound performance. Introduced as a séance,  Beloff’s project began with her discovery that Thomas Edison reportedly spent the last decades of his life developing a machine that could communicate with the dead.  By utilizing devices that could have been found in Edison’s laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey such as a 16 mm projector, a 78 rpm hand-cranked phonograph, and a telegraph ticker, and incorporating more recent inventions such as 3D imaging and a sine wave generator, Beloff and Montgomery imaginatively reconstruct a mechanical medium.

Zoe Beloff works with a wide range of media including film, projection performance, installation and drawing. She considers herself a medium, an interface between the living and the dead, the real and the imaginary. Each project aims to connect the present to the past so that it might illuminate the future in new ways. Her work has been featured at the Whitney Museum of American Art, SITE Sante Fe, the MHKA Museum in Antwerp, and the Pompidou Center in Paris. She has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is a professor in the Departments of Media Studies and Art at Queens College, City University of New York.

As a sound artist, Gen Ken Montgomery finds novel ways to work with sound. He has created an audio-only CD-ROM (Inner Eye/Outer Ear), a record label for experimental music (Generations Limited),  the first sound art gallery in New York City (Generator), and a Ministry devoted to conducting one-on-one listening rituals (The Ministry of Lamination). Since 1985, he has been performing multi-channel sound concerts in intimate settings, often in total darkness. In composition and performance he has employed an ice crusher, an aquarium, a refrigerator, a hand massager and a laminator. In New York City, his sound work has been heard at the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA PS1, The Kitchen, White Columns and Issue Project Room.

Resurrecting “A Mechanical Medium” has been organized by Theresa Choi, 2012-13 recipient of the Ramapo Curatorial Prize, which is awarded each year to a second-year graduate student at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College.

This program was made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Pascal Gallery is located in the Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts at Ramapo College. Hours are Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 1 p.m to 5 p.m. and Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.  For more information call (201)-684-7147.

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About Ramapo College

Ramapo College of New Jersey is the state’s premier public liberal arts college and is committed to academic excellence through interdisciplinary and experiential learning, and international and intercultural understanding. The comprehensive college is situated among the beautiful Ramapo Mountains, is within commuting distance to New York City, was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America by CondeNast Traveler, and boasts the best on-campus housing in New Jersey per Niche.com. Established in 1969, Ramapo College offers bachelor’s degrees in the arts, business, data science, humanities, social sciences and the sciences, as well as in professional studies, which include business, education, nursing and social work. In addition, the College offers courses leading to teacher certification at the elementary and secondary levels, and offers graduate programs leading to master’s degrees in Accounting, Applied Mathematics, Business Administration, Contemporary Instructional Design, Computer Science, Creative Music Technology, Data Science, Educational Leadership, Nursing, Social Work and Special Education, as well as a Doctor of Nursing Practice.

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