Spiritual Ecstasy 2017 / 7:00 Commissioned by composer and sound artist David Simons, made possible with support from NYSCA. Video by Karrer, soundtrack by Simons. https://vimeo.com/331313575 Excerpt from the premiere at Harvestworks: https://youtu.be/hZbUo_SvAO8
Spiritual Ecstasy is a meditation on the transformation of organic life forms, and how humans interpret these events. The supernatural treatment of organic objects links life and decay with the phenomenal interconnectedness of cellular materials. Simons treats this video as a silent film, performing a live score on velocity-controlled theremin. Spiritual Ecstasy acts as a threshold between the cyclical phenomena of life on Earth, juxtaposed with imagined alien presences. Musicians, dancers and performers trigger a variety of projected images, audio samples and sound processes, evoking extra-dimensional life forms which appear to be communicating from another planet.
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LANDSCAPE Re: Form (excerpt) 2014 / 1:39 Commissioned by visual artist Bill Hochhausen. Painting/concept by Hochhausen, video by Karrer, score by John Morton. https://vimeo.com/83329457
A combination of warm technology (a painting, a string quartet, a music box) with digital design (embedded video).
I filmed Hochhausen’s painting, left-to-right, in horizontal panning shots, then shot close-up areas of the canvas that I found compelling in terms of texture, juxtaposition of color and build-up of surface paint.
Hochhausen removed a section of his canvas, embedded a video monitor into the void, and attached the cut-out canvas to the outer edge of the frame. The result is a re-examination of the physical painting reinterpreted digitally, with layered views of color, movement and sound. The full-length video with Morton’s soundtrack (set to loop) is 10:42.
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Prussian Blue 2010 / 6:58 (looped audio) Commissioned by visual artist Robert Egert. Soundtrack by Karrer, mounted wall image by Egert. https://vimeo.com/156338395
A 2010 site-specific installation in collaboration with visual artist Robert Egert, installed at the Garnerville Arts Center Dye Works Gallery, Garnerville, NY.
Prussian Blue examines the cultural, economic and environmental impact of an industrial factory that produced civil war uniforms at this site in Garnerville, NY.
________________________________________________________________Claudius Smith, Cowboy of the Ramapos: A profane oratorio 2009 / 26:00 Commissioned by composer and hyperpianist Denman Maroney. Composition and libretto by Maroney, video by Karrer. https://vimeo.com/42971350
The story of the outlaw Claudius Smith is a little known but pertinent chapter in the American Revolution; his scandalous life of crime has the mythic quality of all great anti-heroes. Smith was a Tory who terrorized the population of Orange County NY from hideouts in the Ramapo Mountains, raiding patriots’ homes and stealing livestock, weapons, and provisions to give to British troops. He was hanged and buried in Goshen in 1779.
Oratorio featuring vocalists Lisa Karrer and Megan Schubert, and musicians Denman Maroney (piano), Ratzo Harris (bass) and David Simons (drums). Made possible, in part, with funds from the Individual Artist Grants program of the Arts Council of Rockland and the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts.
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Mary’s SITE (excerpt) 2007-’09 / 2:38 With sculptor Mary Ziegler. https://youtu.be/-392JC1XdFE
Performed at A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn NY, The Flea Theatre in NYC, and Rockland Center for the Arts (RoCA), Nyack, NY.
Lisa Karrer 