Tony Conrad sat in a well-lit corner of Buffalo State College's Burchfield-Penney Art Center, cursing at a sewing machine for two straight hours Wednesday night.
In front of a rolling camera, Conrad, director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Media Study at UB, fed projector film through the sewing machine before the image was projected onto a screen. The final product is a projected silent film, with the stitches visible down the center of the screen. He sewed for two hours, stopping only to swear at the machine when it became jammed with the stitched film.
Creative and zany stunts such as this are currently being filmed as part of a 48-hour installation at the art center, located on the third floor of the college's Rockwell Hall. It's all part of the "24:48" video performance, which started Wednesday night at 8 p.m. and will continue until the show's opening tonight at 8 p.m. At the end of the two days, all 24 tapes will be played simultaneously.
24 televisions will be suspended from the ceiling, each playing one of the two-hour tapes concurrently. The presentation will also be shown on Saturday and Sunday. Mementos from each of the films will also be on display with a short description under each of the televisions.
The performance began with a white background which, during the 48 hours of filming, is painted on. Spray-painted images of characters from Nintendo's Mario Brothers were the first markings to appear on the wall. Progress on the paintings will be able to be seen in each of the tapes.
Project masterminds Brian Milbrand, a UB media study graduate, and Tom Holt, graduate of SUNY New Paltz, will remain on location and awake for the entire 48 hours.
In this experimental first year of the event, Milbrand and Paltz have invited painters, sculptors, poets, musicians and other various artists to participate in the two-day marathon. Most participants are Western New York residents.
The weekend schedule also includes musical performances by The Electric Eclectic Orchestra and Vexer, who will perform Saturday at 8:p.m.. The Lazio/Rozier Ensamble will perform at 2 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free and open to the public for the entire weekend, excepting Sunday when regular museum admissions apply.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
