Artist Vanessa Renwick (of The Oregon Department of Kick Ass) presents three new short films, interspersed with music performances by Michael Hurley, Sam Coomes of Quasi and Marisa Anderson.
Vanessa was recently recognized for her artistic excellence and achievements in the media arts with a 2016 Fellowship Award from RACC. Her films have screened at The Museum of Modern Art, The Centre Pompidou, The Museum of Jurassic Technology, The Smithsonian and hundreds of other venues internationally.
Her film NEXT LEVEL FUCKED UP was born when Renwick reached her personal boiling point for demoralizing news items. She poured her frustration into a film that tackles some of the fucked-up subjects of our time including gentrification, Monsanto, the unethical manipulation of animals through breeding and wildlife management, Martin Shkreli, Fukushima and people leaving tied-up bags of dog poop all over the place. (Don’t worry, there’s a happy ending about the inevitability of cosmic bliss.) Cameos by Tres Shannon, artist Tom Cramer, photographer Corey Arnold and musician Michael Hurley.
NLFU debuted this year as a multi-channel video installation at the Portland Art Museum. For this screening Renwick has adapted it into a single-channel film. Musicians who contributed to the film’s score (Hurley, Coomes and Anderson) will also perform live between screenings of Vanessa's short films.
Also premiering are two new shorts, Strabismus (a film about how Renwick’s experience with ocular surgery influenced her understanding of vision, metaphorically and literally) and Eclipse (about a pack of wolves and a full solar eclipse).
This event is made possible by the Regional Arts & Culture Council.