Dynamic Stasis

26 January – 16 February 2013

Please join us for the opening on Saturday 16 February at 14:00

Opening address by Tegan Bristow (interactive digital media artist and Head of the MA Interactive Art program at Wits Digital Art)

The artists will be in attendance at the opening

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue. Printed version available from GALLERYAOP or scroll down for digital version  

Dynamic Stasis is the title of a new body of collaborative work by internationally acclaimed digital artist Nathaniel Stern and printmaker Jessica Meuninck-Ganger (both currently lecturing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) on show at GALLERY AOP. This exhibition premieres 14 new works that culminated from an online residency with GALLERY AOP, and features a catalogue with an essay by renowned media theorist Richard Grusin. For documentation including text, images and videos of the artists’ ongoing work together, please visit http://jessicameuninckganger.nathanielstern.com

On the most literal level Dynamic Stasis refers to how each of the works combines the “dynamism” of moving video with the “stasis” of graphic prints. Each of the main works combines a print (or drawing) on translucent paper, which is overlaid on a looped video playing on a LCD photo-viewing screen, resulting in a dynamic new mesmerizing artwork. The images in each print are drawn (etched, carved, screened, etc) from images that occur in the video at different moments in time. The subject matter ranges from prosaic moments in everyday life to various complex iconographical systems. 

Jessica Meuninck-Ganger and Nathaniel Stern met at their first Faculty Meeting in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee in August 2008. They started their collaborative practice soon after. Jessica, a trained and experienced printmaker, wanted to explore new media and Nathaniel wanted to expand the interface of the digital and the traditional in art. They embarked on a series of ongoing work, collectively called Distill Life, invoking both process and product in art with wit and irony. Passing Between mounted at GALLERY AOP in 2010 was the first public exposure of their collaboration.  Dynamic Stasis consolidates their collaboration and at the same time takes their work to a new level.