YEMENWED – EPISODE 3

The video Episode 3 is a surreal Sci-Fi journey; part animation, part live action, part painting, part video game. The piece begins with Sigrid, the female protagonist, outfitted in compression leg sleeves and a cane, crossing a field of reeds as she approaches the looming presence of the Metronome building. Sigrid continues on to encounter powerful forces at play for the access of physical and spiritual transcendence, manifested in a cast of mythical objects and characters such as the Outsiders, an Offering Box, Hymnals, a Pew, the Prefects, the Psychic, and a Coffin. Taking queues from performance, ritual, dance and cinema, Episode 3 is an abstract meditation on multiplicity and transformation. In the video the protagonist’s identity, or body, is wed to how she inhabits the space, or how she is enveloped by it, rooted in the architecture, objects and characters she encounters. The video was screened in a site-specific viewing chamber, which provided the viewer with a pew from which to watch the animation. A sarcophagus-esque sculpture by Shawn Maximo (Sigrid, 2008) was installed as a levitating presence at the lower portion of the projection, thus providing the viewer with a peripheral influence similar to that of a stranger sits next to, or behind someone, in a darkened movie theater. The presence is felt, in a subtle physical fashion. This work was originally screened at the experimental art space, Fake Estate, which was a former utility closet in the West Chelsea Arts Building in New York City.

Direction – Gloria Maximo & Jonathan Turner
Writing – Gloria Maximo
Animation – Jonathan Turner
Paintings – Gloria Maximo
Architectural Design – Shawn Maximo
Sculpture – Shawn Maximo
Sculpture – Paul Kopkau
Costumes – Gloria Maximo (Jason Farrer, Shawn Maximo, and Paul Kopkau, artist’s own)
Jewelry – Heather Kosch
Performance – Megha Barnabas, Busy Gangnes, Jason Farrer, Paul Kopkau, Shawn Maximo, Heather Kosch, Gloria Maximo
Musical Direction, Piano – Kate Rosko
Vocals – Natalie LeBrecht, Shannon Funchess
Recorder – Nina Mehta
Guitar – Mick Barr, Colin Marston (Krallice)
Drums – Lev Weinstein (Krallice)
Drum Machine – Abby Portner
Sound Design – Joseph Fraioli
Vocal Engineer – Black Cracker

Companion book available. Design – Mary Voorhees Meehan

Special thanks to – David Santa Maria, Laura Foxman, Peter Zuspan

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