throwntogetherness presents bicoastal dual screenings in Philadelphia, PA and Portland, OR, co-organized by new media collectives Mobile Projection Unit, including Fernanda D’Agostino and Sarah Turner, joined by Jaleesa Johnston, and Lino Kino, including Boothe Carlson, Saskia Globig, Erin Gordon, Michael Ipsen, and Emilie P. Slater, in dialogue with curator and artist Jaleesa Johnston and writer, curator, and art historian, Laurel V. McLaughlin.
During the pandemic, the collectives speculated upon commonalities in new media practices from Philadelphia and Portland—the DIY spirit, ritual aesthetics (whether formal, spiritual, or everyday), and new media experimentality—and proposed a bicoastal collaboration. The screenings exhibit works that emerged prior to and during the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. throwntogetherness asks: what does it mean to make mediated work from a place, space, and time? Pre-pandemic, this question might have been answered through regional specificities, collaborations, and shared aesthetics; but during COVID-19, answers remain in flux as local mobilities, livelihoods, and ideologies shift on unstable terrain. Despite new media’s mobile nature, practitioners create works from, of, and with sites, registering the affects of a place just as much as its geographical expanse. In turn, the works disclose relational negotiations of space-time, or what feminist geographer Doreen Massey qualifies as “throwntogetherness,” or complex “negotiations of space-time.” From various space-times, the participating artists from Portland and Philadelphia negotiate the physical, temporal, and psychic valences of place-being and place-making—translating their speculations through the lenses of new media.
The artists from Portland include, Sarah Brahim, Mel Carter, Daniel Coka, Fernanda D'Agostino, Satpreet Kahlon, Jaleesa Johnston, ariella tai, and Sarah Turner, and from Philadelphia include, Sam Dellert, Zoe Chronis, Sim Hahaha, Bambi Haggerman, Hook + Loop, John Muse & Brendamaris Rodriguez, George Shands, and Guava Rhee. The collectives will produce two screenings in each city across two weekends in August 2022 in collaboration with the Bok Building in Philadelphia and NW Marine Art Works Building 5 in Portland. On the first evening in each city, the collectives will screen a combined program of video work by artists from the respective cities. On the second evening, the collectives will stage a projection-mapped screening featuring live and prerecorded input. The Portland screenings will be held on August 5th and 6th at NW Marine Art Works Building 5, at 9:30 PM.
The Philadelphia screenings will be held on August 12th and 13th at the Bok Building, at 8:00 PM. throwntogetherness is supported by a 2021 Sachs Program for Arts Innovation Project Grant, Philadelphia, PA and the Ford Family Foundation, Portland, OR. In-kind sponsors include the Bok Building, Philadelphia and NW Marine Works Building 5, Portland. Mobile Projection Unit (MPU) is a roving studio that presents new, experimental, site specific outdoor video projections throughout Portland, Oregon. Our work as an artist team focuses on spatializing video through projection mapping, and live interactive video performance through creative coding.
Founded and directed by Fernanda D’Agostino and Sarah Turner in 2018, the MPU is also a curatorial project. Part of our curatorial ethos is to put the tools of production into the hands of artists. Throughout Fall 2019 and Winter 2020 MPU layered the nighttime city-scape of Portland with works by a cohort of media artists that included; Sharita Towne, Sabina Haque, rubén garcía marrufo, Jaleesa Johnston, Megan McKissack, Victoria Wells, and Hasan Mahmood. Sites ranged from abandoned grain elevators to grand openings of community centers.
In Spring of 2020 Mobile Projection Unit was commissioned by the Northwest Film Center to create three site specific video installations “Phases of the Moon,” for public events surrounding the Portland International Film Festival. More recent projects include “been there,” a series of experimental works by Black filmmakers curated by ariella tai and presented as a drive-in movie, and screenings with Snack Block in support of BLM. In 2020 and 2021 MPU was commissioned by the Northwest Film Center (PAMCUT) to create immersive installations to compliment the Venice Film Festival’s Virtual Venice Biennale. The Portland Art Museum was the only North American site for the biennale’s roving venue response to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. MPU is funded in part by the Precipice Fund the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Calligram Foundation, the Ford Family Foundation and the Regional Arts and Culture Council. Sarah Turner is a new media and video artist, new media curator, and creative producer. Fernanda D’Agostino is an interactive video installation artist, public artist, and creative coder. Both are based in Portland, OR. Lino Kino is a Philadelphia-based media arts collective dedicated to exploring new approaches to experimental art exhibition. Since the spring of 2018 we have worked towards creating an open forum for film and electronic art in the city by hosting frequent screenings and performance events.
