:::::::::October 2 to 27: exhibition, New York :::::::::::
Oct 20: discussion with artists and reception 2-5pm, New York
<2-4pm brief presentations by the artists, 4pm reception>

other engagements:
September 7 - 8: screening, Don Benito, Spain
October 24 to Nov 5: Val06 International Video Festival. La Sala Naranja, Valencia, Spain

SATELLITE VALENCIA :::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Twins, clones, and couples are observed in destructive pursuits, often caught in an endless loop. Tricia McLaughlin's antiseptic world is inhabited by her signature characters - cloned archetypes Hefty Man and Slender Woman - who perform absurdly tiring and dangerous moves on the "Precision Diving Wheel". They breathe collective sighs of relief and gasps of horror at every attempt. Sheila and Nicholas Pye's "The Paper Wall" examines a twinning by marriage in shabby environs. The visceral scene is at once narcissistic, playful, and squalid - where a paper wall is a thin skin between the intertwined co-dependents. In David Yonge's "Redneck/Redneck", the doppelganger-protaganists stealthily hunt a lush woods in pursuit of their own deadly likenesses.

Artists digitally insert themselves into familiar film and video narratives, affecting them with humour. Johanna Householder and b.h. yael hijack the narrative of "2001: A Space Odyssey", appropriating the audio track and adapting a pivotal scene. “December 31, 2000” sees Householder as hero Dave, navigating her domestic space in a billowing space suit, adding greater pathos to a failed mission. Jill Miller cohabits and updates John Baldessari's seminal video work "I am Making Art". In "I am Making Art Too", she dances to Missy Elliot alongside the senior artist, announcing her inclusive claim. In "Screen Kiss", Jillian Mcdonald intervenes in romantic scenarios from popular films to play the fan's fantasy role. Standing in digitally for various actresses and actors, she kisses such stars as Johnny Depp, Daniel Day Lewis, and Ewan McGregor.

Political satire courses through a reduction of media footage. Claudia X Valdes condenses an entire controversial made-for-TV movie about nuclear disaster into less than one minute, pausing occasionally to point at key themes. While the flashing image are haunting, the garbled and nonsensical soundtrack to "In the Dream of the Planet" decays like an unnatural consumption. Liselot van der Heijden conversely isolates singular moments from nature films and a presidential address to keenly tackle manipulative messages from American political rhetoric. "Feast" and "America" aim precisely at what is not being said.

Johanna Householder and b.h. yael (Toronto)
December 31, 2000
"December 31, 2000" is a shot-for-shot recreation of the pivotal scene in Stanley Kubrick's classic "2001: A Space Odyssey". Dave is in the process of dismantling HAL, the renegade and recalcitrant computer. On December 31, 2000, Kubrick's apocalyptic dream has not yet been realized. The domestic scene supplants the space station, and household appliances become the conduit through which Dave (Johanna Householder) emerges and enters the spaceship in order to render HAL powerless. In an ironic reversal, "December 31, 2000" exposes the failure of the future.
Jillian Mcdonald (New York)
Screen Kiss
"Screen Kiss" is a conceptual sequel to Me and Billy Bob (2003). By inserting herself digitally into kissing scenes with other actors, the artist aims to make Billy Bob, her object of desire, jealous.
press (Art Papers)
Tricia McLaughlin (New York)
Precision Diving Wheel
"Precision Diving Wheel" is a Ferris wheel of pools of water and a high diving board. In order to survive this ride, one must be a very precise diver.
Jill Miller (San Francisco + Los Angeles)
I am Making Art Too
This video addresses John Baldessari’s 1971 video-performance piece, "I am Making Art", with humor and scrutiny. The younger artist, Miller, brings Baldessari’s tai chi-esque movements into contemporary times by transforming his original meditative gestures into breakdancing moves. Miller then inserts herself into the new video footage and dances around Baldessari. Missy Elliott’s Work It backs up the new Baldessari-Miller collaborative dance. The three artists (Baldessari, Elliott, and Miller) form a new collaboration.
press (New Zealand Herald)
Nick and Sheila Pye (Toronto)
The Paper Wall
Boxed into twin rooms separated by a thin wall, a brother and sister communicate their desires. Stunning, provocative, and perplexing, the pair is irresistible to watch as they become increasingly physically and emotionally dependent on one another.
press (Flavorpill)


Liselot van der Heijden (New York)
Feast. Hommage à Marcel Broodthaers
"Feast. Hommage à Marcel Broodthaers" is a satire. Exploiting false metaphors and Nature as a cultural/political idea and anthropomorphic projection, the eagle (heroic symbol on the presidential seal) is mirrored with the vulture, symbol of death and rapacity. The work juxtaposes a series of statements -- "this has nothing to do with oil," "a vulture is not an eagle" and "this is not political" -- with a continuous video loop showing a close up of a group of vultures ferociously fighting to seize a bite.

America
"America" is a parody of the 2004 State of the Union Address, in which George W. Bush mentions the word "America" exactly 61 times. In this video everything in the speech is removed except the word "America" and the pauses or applause that follow or precede it.
press (The Thing)
Claudia X. Valdes (Albuquerque)
In the Dream of the Planet
"In the Dream of the Planet" is a result of looking at how the media has presented information to the public about nuclear arms and nuclear war since the cold war period. In this work, Valdes appropriates the made for TV movie "The Day After" (1983) in its entirety, and condenses the film down to 56 seconds. She repeats these 56 seconds 6 times, and in each repetition edit into the movie to convey themes that mirror research done on the history of nuclear arms. These themes include a focus on human relationships, the media, the military, and science.

David Yonge (Vancouver)
Redneck / Redneck
Everyone in the world has an identical twin. This myth claims if the two ever meet, only one will survive.