|
Miranda July (Portland, Oregon)
|
multi-media performance, levitation
http://www.mirandajuly.com
Miranda July makes performances, movies, recordings and combinations of these things. Her videos (The Amateurist, Nest of Tens, Getting Stronger Every Day) have screened internationally at sites such as MoMA, the Guggenheim Museum, and the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Nest of Tens was included in the 2002 Whitney Biennial, in addition to a sound installation commissioned for the show. July's most recent multi-media performances, Love Diamond and The Swan Tool have been presented globally by in spaces such as The Kitchen in New York, and the Institute of Contemporary Art in London. July has recorded several performance albums, available on the Kill Rock Stars and K record labels. July has also directed a video for the all-girl rock band Sleater Kinney, made her feature film acting debut in Alison Maclean's Jesus' Son, and provided consultation for feature films. In 1995 she founded Joanie 4 Jackie, a movie distribution network for independent women movie makers. This project has allowed women of all ages and backgrounds to exchange their movies and give each other support. July recently launched two on-going web-based collaborations, Learning to Love You More (with Harrell Fletcher) and How Will I Know Her? (with Emma Hedditch). For the past three years July has collaborated with DJ and sound artist Zac Love; Love has
composed live and recorded soundtracks for both the movies and live performances. Today Miranda is hard at work on a feature-length movie, some short stories, a new performance and a few other similar things. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
"There is something stunning about Miranda July. Always at the center of her cryptically playful works, July is like a collecting gravity, a gathering of mesmerizing energy." —Steve Seid, Pacific Film Archives
How I Learned to Draw is a work-in-progress performance in six parts. Each section has it's own temperature and bylaws and they fluctuate wildly. July employs the audience, sound, video, prayer, levitation and herself to build each land. Hi and lo-tech become irrelevant as hope is metabolized towards single goal --that of proving the existence of a better parallel world that lives in the hearts of everyone in the room.
|
|
|
