HIGH LINE CHANNEL
Jennifer West, Selected Recent Works
On View Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - Monday, March 5, 2012
Exterior Wall next to the High Line at West 22nd Street

Download a schedule of Jennifer West's screenings. [2]

High Line Art, presented by Friends of the High Line, is pleased to announce that Jennifer West will present the second installment on HIGH LINE CHANNEL, an outdoor video program that screens art films and videos, historic works, new productions, and curated series, daily from dusk to 10:00 PM. HIGH LINE CHANNEL is projected on a building to the east of the High Line at West 22nd Street, where it is visible from the park’s Seating Steps, as well as the sidewalk on West 22nd Street.

Based in Los Angeles, California, Jennifer West belongs to a long tradition of experimental filmmakers who have worked with “direct film,” or films realized without the use of camera. Direct films are created by manipulating the celluloid strip through physical actions and processes. West treats her films by exposing them to a variety of substances such as coffee, mascara, lipstick, and habanero sauce, or by staging interactive events where people are invited to perform actions to the film strips, like snowboarding or skateboarding directly on them. The resulting footage is then transferred to digital format, and projected and often accelerated, which heightens its abstract and tactile qualities. The title of each work bears the memory of the process of making: extensive and detailed in their descriptions, the titles list all elements, substances and actions that incurred in the production of the final artwork.

“It is exciting to show a selection of Jennifer West’s works that have never been exhibited before in New York,” said Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr, Curator and Director of High Line Art. “Her films are the result of complex processes and participatory performances. With their vivid colors, rapid movements and psychedelic look, West’s camera-less films evoke alchemic experiments in the field of filmmaking.”

About the Artist

Jennifer West received a Master of Fine Arts from Art Center, Pasadena, CA in 2004 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. She has had solo exhibitions at Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX; Western Bridge, Seattle, WA; Kunstverein Nuremberg, Nuremberg, DE; Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Vilma Gold, London, UK; Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, UK, and White Columns, New York, NY. She was an Artist in Residence at the MIT List Visual Arts Center and has been commissioned for special projects at the TATE Modern, London, UK and the Aspen Art Museum. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, DE; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Leubsdorf Gallery, Hunter College, New York, NY; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA; Musee d'Art Contemporain, Bordeaux, FR; ZKM Museum for New Media, Karlsruhe, DE and many others. West lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Support

HIGH LINE CHANNEL is presented by Friends of the High Line and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. High Line Art Commissions are made possible by Donald R. Mullen, Jr., with additional support from Vital Projects Fund, Inc. High Line Art is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

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