Video Still from Motion Within Motion (2017)
Exhibition: May 2 – 12, 2018
Opening Reception
- Date/Time: Tuesday, May 1, 2018, 7– 9 PM
- Location: grunt gallery #116 350 – East 2nd Ave
Artist Talk: Azadeh Emadi
- Date/Time: Thursday, May 10, 2018, 6 – 7 PM
- Location: grunt gallery #116 350 – East 2nd Ave
Lecture:“Creative Algorithms: From Islamic Art to Digital Media”, Dr Laura U. Marks
- Date/Time: Wednesday, May 23, 2018, 7– 9 PM
- Location: SFU Harbour Centre, Rm 7000
Azadeh Emadi – Motion Within Motion
grunt gallery, in conjunction with SFU School for Contemporary Arts and Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies, presents the first Canadian exhibition by Glasgow-based artist Azadeh Emadi.
Motion Within Motion, a two-channel video installation with immersive sound, is inspired by Persian-Islamic philosophy of change. Using the theory of ‘substantial motion’ (al-harakat al-jawhariyya) by philosopher Mulla Sadrā Shirazi (1571-1641) as a starting point, Emadi employs digital video and installation technologies to challenge human-centric assumptions of change, time and motion. The work engages two distinct points of view: a non-narrative documentary filmed in Iran and an altered variation that magnifies the footage to the pixel-level. The resulting installation is both synchronized and perceptually disjointed, demanding a simultaneous reading of both cinematic time/movement and the largely abstracted constituent parts of the digital image. Zooming in and out of focus, splitting images into units and using different modalities of time and motion, Emadi’s installation reveals the inner activities of the frame – and provides experience “from a pixel’s point of view.”
Motion Within Motion will be presented in the Main Gallery, and is accompanied by Floating Tiles, a related work in the Media Lab. Floating Tiles continues the artist’s exploration of time and perception via the juxtaposition of classical Islamic tilework – themselves the product of algorithmic pattern creation – and the digital manipulation of the pixel.
The exhibition corresponds with Dr. Emadi’s research residency with Dr. Laura U. Marks at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts until early June 2018.
Programs include an artist talk and conversation with Dr. Marks on May 10th at the gallery, and a special presentation of Dr. Marks’ popular lecture “Creative Algorithms: From Islamic Art to Digital Media” on May 23rd at SFU Harbour Centre, Room 7000.
Biography:
Azadeh Emadi is a video maker and media artist who experiments with alternative approaches to image making process and technologies of perception. In applying and developing aspects of classical Persian-Islamic culture and concepts, her work aims to stimulate dialogue between Western and Middle Eastern cultures. Her videos and installations explore the intersection between reality, perception, technology and time, as an investigation for finding new ways of seeing that innovatively address some of the current socio-cultural and environmental issues. She is also a lecturer and researcher at the School of Culture and Creative Arts (Film and Television Studies Department), The University of Glasgow.