RISD Visting Artist Cooper Holoweski presents: video piece, Katabasis
Cooper Holoweski will be screening his video piece Katabasis along with a live score performed by three musicians. Katabasis is a 40-minute video landscape with sound that moves the viewer through an elaborately constructed virtual junkyard built in the 3D modeling program Sketchup. It explores the themes of death, limbo and rebirth. In various world mythologies ‘Katabasis’ refers to a trip to the underworld. The journey of Odysseus through Hades and the death and resurrection of Lazarus are classic examples of Katabasis.
Co-sponsored by the Painting and Printmaking Departments at RISD.
Cooper Holoweski Artist Statement: My work is about the dream of a middle-class utopia; its rapid development, failure, and our longing for it. The promise of Fordism was not simply that of a livable wage, but also one of social engineering that extended beyond the factory and into the home. Both my video work and works on paper combine traditional techniques (painting, drawing, stop-motion animation) with computer-aided 3D modeling to create an atmosphere that is both opulent and stark. With imagery including AstroTurf, vinyl-sided houses, and Station Wagons, my work carries a sincere nostalgia for the capitalist utopia of the 20th century and understanding that it was always fated for collapse.
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