Break It Down opening/Rev. Luke lecture February 26 @ RENDER/UW

[Barbara Hobot]

Break It Down

*February 24  to March 21, 2009*

*Opening: Thursday, February 26, 6 to 8 pm*

*RENDER, East Campus Hall, University of Waterloo*


*Break It Down* is a presentation of five videos by artists Manuel Saiz,
Rachel Scott, and Lyntje Vorsteveld.  Collectively, their works use popular
music and dance to playfully critique notions of celebrity.  The videos use
aspects of vulnerability, humility and introspection as vehicles for
celebrating the pathetic and strange - characteristics that are often
rejected by contemporary culture.


The works in *Break It Down* offer an alternative to the booty, bling and
bravado that is prevalent not only on TV and in cinema, but also in my local
club or karaoke bar.  Lyrics and choreography embrace sexual prowess, wealth
and super hero invincibility.  While these are not new occurrences in music
and dance, they nonetheless continue to shimmy their way into my
consciousness and affect the way I think about music's capacity to inspire,
entertain and inform.


There is much to be admired in the power of celebrity, the eye-candy
offerings of amped up music videos, and the ability for tunes to transform
you or me into a dynamo in 3 minutes, 24 seconds.  But how can these modes
of communication be manipulated to tell a different story?  How can a new
visual language or aesthetic be explored through the acceptance of weakness
rather than the hailing of power?


The videos in this exhibition clear a little room for the far-from-cool
parts of life: the instances of embarrassment, irrepressible honesty, and
downright pathos we all come to experience.  The videos, although different
in their tone - some funny, others more sombre - use popular music or dance
as a springboard for expressing the not-so-celebrity aspects of life, in all
of their significance and awkward allure.


- Barbara Hobot, RENDER Curator-in-residence


An exhibition brochure will be available in PDF format at
www.render.uwaterloo.ca

Image:  video still from Manuel Saiz, *Parallel Paradises: Japan,* 2007
(courtesy of Vtape)

**

**

*Also on Thursday,  February 26th:*

**

*RENDER in collaboration with Critical Media Lab (Department of English
Language and Literature, University of Waterloo) is pleased to present the *
*Reverend Luke Murphy's illustrated lecture The Cup of Loneliness* at
4:30 pm in the Arts Lecture Hall, Room 113, University of Waterloo


Rev. Luke Murphy is an information-based artist whose work is united by
common themes drawn from the impossible task of quantifying the elements of
the psyche and spirit. He has a particular interest in the Gnostic gospels,
Masonic ritual, religious paintings and digital languages - in effect,
codes. Amorphous concepts are dissected and reassembled using the
architecture of professional jargon and presentation techniques. Murphy's
incessant need to organize ostensibly promises the viewer the hope of
discovering a pattern or the key to the code and ultimately a shorter route
to meaning, understanding and mastery of complex situations and emotions.
This attempt to draw the connections within amorphous subjects, which in
theory should soothe the viewer by simplifying the complex, instead reveals
more layers of anxiety. The work's failure to deliver what they ostensibly
promise is at once menacing and reassuring. Murphy has been producing and
developing his work digitally since 1994 although a substantial portion of
his work involves drawing and painting.


Rev. Murphy graduated with an MFA from SUNY Purchase after completing his
BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and a BS from the
University of Toronto. He is the co-director of cabinetmagazine.org and a VP
of Technology at MTV Networks Online.


www.lukelab.com


**

**

RENDER

263 Phillip Street

Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1

www.render.uwaterloo.ca

519-888-4567 x33575


*Hours:  *

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 12 - 7 pm

Friday, Saturday 12 - 4 pm

Admission is always free


*Contact:*

Andrew Hunter, Director/Curator Barbara Hobot, Curator-in-residence

renderprojects at gmail.com renderevents at gmail.com
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