“Impermanence" at the Figge Art Museum -- April 28.
Thursday, April 28, 6:30 p.m.
Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street, Davenport IA
A special viewing of one of the cinematic works in this year's Rock Island Art Guild Fine Arts Exhibition, the 20-minute performance piece Impermanence will be screened in the Figge Art Museum's John Deere Auditorium on April 28, Daniel Fine's and Dana Keeton's work a combination of live mandala creation, video projection, real-time video, and music by percussion ensemble Loop 2.4.3.
Fine's and Keeton's Impermanence contemplates cycles of change, loss, and regeneration to create a calm and reflective experience, and the work is composed of three cycles, each with a distinct video and mandala combination. The mandalas were all created with natural objects in various states of bloom and decay. In Cycle 1: Sakura (We Must Love), the video image is slow motion of a table cloth blowing in the wind at the Jaffa market Tel Aviv, Israel. As stated on Fine's and Keeton's Vimeo page, the cycle was designed to be "much like our experience of the pandemic – we were pieces of fabric at the mercy of the elements, moving forward and backwards in time/space."
In Cycle 2: As A Child, the video is a composite of bubbles filled with fog. "This is the only video that was recorded as a video shoot specifically for this project," Fine and Keeton state. "We shot with two cameras, both recording at 120 frames per second. Aside from our fascination with the fog bubbles, we were interested in using them for everything they represented: fun, whimsy, beauty, a dance, a cycle of creation from soap/liquid fog juice to a bubble filled with fog to something that burst, leaving a tiny trace of smoke behind. The bubbles also represented a form of cleansing – something so lovely and carefree that is made of soap. We are reminded every day how important it is to wash our hands."
And finally, with Impermanence's Cycle 3: So Strong, the artists state, "There are two different movies in this cycle composited together. The first is a close up of the Caribbean Sea. Filmed in Costa Rica on the east side of the country in January 2020. The video is shot in-camera at 120 frames per second. The water represents life, birth, rebirth, change. It allows the audience to be immersed for a moment in this cleansing, life affirming element that provides life to all. The second videos are fire particles shot in Vermont in 2019 at 120 frames per second. This natural element represents change, purification, energy, destruction, and renewal.
"The mandala creation starts yet again, this time using found/collected items from nature in an even mix of various states of decay and life/bloom. Once again, the objects are placed one-by-one in process, by the end creating the full mandala, only this time, the mandala is left in full, intact as the lights, music and projections fade."
Impermanence will be presented in Davenport on April 28, admission to the 6:30 p.m. showing is free, and more information is available by calling (563)326-7804 and visiting FiggeArtMuseum.org.
