Jun 16, 2011
Artist Development
The San Francisco Film Society will present the new KinoTek program Marius Watz: Automatic Writing, a multifaceted presentation of the work of pioneering software artist Marius Watz, July 22-August 17. The program includes an exhibition featuring 3-D printed sculptures at Super Frog Gallery, an artist’s talk, a master class on digital fabrication and an essay to be published on sf360.org. In addition, a collectible Watz poster will be inserted into the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
KinoTek is a programming stream presenting nontraditional, cross-platform and emergent media. Throughout 2011 and 2012 the Film Society will present eight KinoTek programs, each featuring the work of an artist or practice that challenges the boundaries of screen-based art. The series launched in February with a multiplatform presentation of the work of American multimedia artist Laurel Nakadate. KinoTek is supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation.
Working at the forefront of emergent media practice, Marius Watz uses digital processes and authored algorithms to “automatically” produce numerous types of media including video, still imagery and sculpture through semi-autonomous software systems that encode form as the result of parametric behaviors. The resulting abstractions, with their hard-edged geometries and vivid colors, are stunning both visually and conceptually. This artistic practice irrevocably merges the processes of production with the resulting work and calls into question the shifting definitions of art.
For complete program information visit sffs.org/Screenings-and-Events/KinoTek.
For additional information about Marius Watz visit nytimes.com/2011/05/14/arts/design/makerbot-is-a-new-3-d-printer.
“Marius Watz is at the forefront of a burgeoning art practice that uses custom fabrication tools and computer processes toward stunning creative output,” said Film Society Programmer Sean Uyehara, who curates the KinoTek programs. “He has long been an advocate for parametric art-an expert in the field-and I am very pleased that he is working with us and that we are able to present him in San Francisco thanks to the support of the Warhol and Wattis foundations.”
Marius Watz is a Norwegian-born artist working with visual abstraction through generative software processes. His work is concerned with the synthesis of form as the product of parametric behaviors. Watz has exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Todaysart (The Hague), Itaú Cultural (Sao Paulo), MuseumsQuartier (Vienna) and Galleri ROM (Oslo). He is a lecturer in interaction design at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. In 2005 he founded Generator.x, a curatorial platform for the presentation of events related to generative art and computational design. Watz is represented by [DAM]Berlin. He currently lives in New York and Oslo.
July 22-August 17 works by Watz, including 3-D printed sculptures from the artist’s recent MakerBot residency in New York and the video Electro Plastique #1, a four-screen time-based visual homage to the Op artist Victor Vasarely, will be exhibited at Super Frog Gallery in the New People building at 1746 Post Street.
On Wednesday, July 20 a limited-run, collectible poster featuring original work by Watz will be included in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
Watz will also present a free talk about his working concepts and methods, followed by a Q&A with the artist, and teach a master class on digital fabrication with the popular Open Source tool Processing. Full details will be announced soon at sffs.org/Screenings-and-Events/KinoTek.
Upcoming KinoTek programs
December 1-3, 8-10, 2011: Erin Markey, experimental theater and live cinema
December 13, 2011-January 13, 2012: Karolina Sobecka, animation and interaction design
April 6-May 4, 2012: Adriane Colburn, experimental cartography and installation
September 14-October 5, 2012: Brent Green, sculpture and animation
For interviews contact hilary@sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.