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RothStauffenberg opens at the IMA Thursday

At left, Bliss (Monitor version), courtesy of the artists
and Esther Schipper, Berlin

RothStauffenberg is an artist team that consists of Christopher Roth and Franz Stauffenberg, both of whom live and work in Berlin, Germany. The duo work on the cusp of media, video, and installation art, often combining elements from various mediums to create highly experiential environments. For this exhibition, RothStauffenberg has adapted existing pieces to reflect on the context of IMA. The Carmen & Mark Holeman Video Galleries will host a four-part installation that takes the viewer on a narrative journey, beginning with a multiple-screen film (taken from found footage) and traveling around the room, spotlighting other found objects and images. In the Off the Wall gallery, RothStauffenberg explores the idea of "in-between" time with their trademark Timecoded Wallpaper and artworks drawn from airplane "black box" recordings. Using image banks, feature films, and various recording devices, the artists undertake a nuanced consideration of the relationships between time, narrative and memory.

At 7 pm in DeBoest Lecture Hall, the IMA will host a talk by Rosanne Altstatt, Throw Your TV Out the Window. Much of early video art was understood as “media criticism” because it took the major weapon of mass media, television, and turned it against itself. Join Rosanne Altstatt— former Director of the Edith Russ Site for Media Art in Oldenburg, Germany and now a visiting scholar at Purdue University—for screenings and discussion about historical and recently minted classics by artists such as Nam June Paik, Dara Birnbaum, and Ant Farm. This program, on the opening night of the exhibition RothStauffenberg, will be followed by an informal gallery walk-through led by Altstatt and Rebecca Uchill, IMA assistant curator of contemporary art.

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