Studio XX continues its 2010-2011 Residency Program by welcoming artists Jessica Mensch and Emily Pelstring from January 10 to March 4, 2011. Jessica and Emily work in various artistic forms including video, experimental film, sound, performance and installation art, painting and stereoscopic 3D animation. During their residency, they will collaborate on a project titled Rocket Science, which rides a non-committal line between band and performance project. The project is as much about music-making as it is about performer identity, band branding and music documentation. As part of the process, Emily and Jessica will create cassette tapes, music videos and an online identity – elements that range from being tongue-in-cheek to downright anarchic in their aesthetic. The artists take on this initiative with an eye toward Joanna Householder’s 1970s performance art group, The Clichettes, who created overtly feminist performances in the guise of a “fake” band. While The Clichettes lip-synced to songs by 1960s girl groups, Jessica and Emily will be using electronic instruments to sample, deform, butcher and re-imagine songs that were originally written in masculine voices. Jessica and Emily will use the residency period to facilitate workshops for women on subjects such as modifying electronic instruments and making tape loops, opening the project up to individuals who are interested in sonic experimentation. The eight weeks of training, artifact manufacturing and jam sessions will culminate in a live multimedia performance and installation at Studio XX’s Wired Women Salon in March 2011.
Biographies
Jessica Mensch is a Montreal-based painter who investigates notions of identity within the context of portrait and figure painting. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Jessica also composes and performs collaborative theatrical pieces loosely based on dreams, current political issues and predictions of the future. She has exhibited and performed in various group exhibitions in Montreal, Toronto and Halifax, and in two solo shows, most recently at Galerie Rye in Montreal. Jessica currently works as a freelance portrait artist and oil painting teacher, and paints theatre sets for the Segal and Centaur Theatres in Montreal.
Emily Pelstring is a multi-media artist who creates video installations, experimental films, performances and sound art. She obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design in Film/Animation/Video, and her Master of Fine Arts from Concordia University in Studio Arts with a concentration in Film Production. She currently works out of Montreal, and has received project support from the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, the Experimental Television Center, Studio XX and others. She has exhibited and screened work at various institutions in Canada and the United States, including XPACE Cultural Centre, Galerie Art Mûr, Centre des Arts Actuels Skol, and Anthology Film Archives.