SHERRY ERSKiNE & IGUANA COLLABORATIVE

Curryfikace: Elektrická Cesta, [The Electric Way], IGUANA Collaborative, Bonnie Sue Stein, John K Erskine, Sherry Erskine and videos created with members of Intermediary at WELM TV in 1970s, digital video projection and music by Jan Horky, Julius Stefan [FotonX] and Curry Collaborative, August 30, 2023. Pristav 18600, Prague, CZ

Official Selection, Nominee Best Experimental Film, Erskine + Stein, RELAY—DELAY, 2022, [13 min 10 sec], digital video, USA.

RELAY–DELAY began as a project for Art in Odd Places Festival 2021 in New York City, which prompted artists to investigate the idea of normalcy during the pandemic. Their call for artists presented a quote from Sonya Renee Taylor stating, “We will not go back to normal. Normal never was.” Quarantine created a sense of liminality as we existed between a time of survival and an uncertain tomorrow. People and the environment suffered many tangible losses in 2020. It was a dark time of the imagination, requiring a greater understanding of our limitations and grief. The pandemic also created a heightened need to hope and imagine a better future. Hence, we set to nature to explore interconnectedness and dream. Living and working in isolation 800 miles apart, our collaboration existed solely in an intermediary digital 3rd space called Zoom for nearly 2 years. Through performative acts of ‘active imagination’ we began recording, sharing and responding to each other’s videos and soundtracks on Dropbox in a relay pen-pal structure. The first two relays were inspired by events during the US electoral process in January 2021: the State of Georgia Senatorial runoff, the capital insurrection, and the presidential inauguration. Our series of 14 videos from January through December 2021, compressing this film, uncovered emotions ranging from feelings of oneness with the earth and its life forces, to the anxiety and sorrow one feels when witnessing destruction. We invite viewers to find beauty, healing and unity in nature.

Directors: Sherry Erskine + Bonnie Sue Stein

Editor: Sherry Erskine

Producer: Bonnie Sue Stein

Sonic Consultation: John K Erskine

The Aesthetica Short Film Festival is BAFTA-Qualifying and takes place in York, UK. It is a celebration of independent film from around the world, and an outlet for supporting and championing filmmaking. It is one of the UK’s largest and most revered film events, and an essential outlet for moving image and digital culture. In 2022, the festival will take place in a hybrid capacity, running in York 1-6 November, and On Demand until 30 November.

ASFF: “Talent development is at the core of our mission statement, a premise aligned with equality, diversity and creativity.” https://www.asff.co.uk

Viewing available On Demand through Aesthetica Short Film Festival until November 30: ASFF Tickets

Special Screening [Invitated], a film by Erskine + Stein, RELAY—DELAY, 2022, [13 min 10 sec], digital video, USA.  

Seoul Dance Film Festival, Art Nine Cinema, Seoul, Korea, November 4, 2022. Program

2022 Dance Film NOW I, II

Dance Film NOW is a guide to the latest trends in dance film in the US and Europe. RELAY–DELAY was referred to Seoul Dance Films Festival by Dance Films Association, NY, NY. Reposts from Seoul Dance Film Festival Instagram @sedaff_official

RELAY–DELAY Performers, directors: Sherry Erskine & Bonnie Sue Stein

Editor: Sherry Erskine

Producer: Bonnie Sue Stein

Sonic Consultation: John K Erskine

릴레이-딜레이(Relay-Delay)

미국 | 스크린댄스 | 13min | 제작년도 2021-2022

감독

셰리 어스킨 Sherry Erskine, 보니 수 스테인 Bonnie Sue Stein

안무

셰리 어스킨 Sherry Erskine, 보니 수 스테인 Bonnie Sue Stein

Official Selection, a film by Erskine + Stein, RELAY—DELAY, 2022, [13 min 10 sec], digital video, USA.

Prague Biennale 2022 Re-connect Art will focus on developing a wider debate around issues related to the specifics of self-presentation in virtual space. A selection of global video art and live performances, in selected public places in Prague, as well as live broadcasts.

The 2022 edition of the performance and video art festival organized by the Prague Biennale Foundation subtitled Re-connect Art will focus on the topic of self-presentation in virtual space. We live in an era of digital communications, whose influence has been even strengthened by recent isolation and restrictions. By moving most of the working and official meetings to the online space, it has furthermore institutionalized. The identity of homo digital meets sophisticated manipulation tools in this new layer. Whether it's social media, the phenomenon of influencers, the creation of false virtual identities or self-improvement through filters, all these thematic areas have a common denominator which is escapism, an escape into the augmented reality.

Screening dates, times and locations in Prague, CZ:

16 Sept 20:30 A(VOID) Gallery

17 Sept 19:15 Stalin Letna

18 Sept 19:30 Colloredo-Mansfeldský Palace

https://www.praguebiennale.cz/erskine-stein

Reposts from Program: https://www.praguebiennale.cz and Instagram @praguebiennale

RELAY–DELAY Performers, directors: Sherry Erskine & Bonnie Sue Stein

Editor: Sherry Erskine

Producer: Bonnie Sue Stein

Sonic Consultation: John K Erskine

Curryfikace: Vztažná Soustava, Sept. 1, 2022 at Přístav 18600, Prague, CZ.

Collaboration with Curry Collective and IGUANA Collaborative coordinated by Jan Horký. Video footage and interview: IGUANA Collaborative (Bonnie Sue Stein/Director, with Sherry Erskine and John K Erskine), Frames of Reference, 1977, open reel video tape.

IGUANA at GOH Productions http://gohproductions.org/iguana/

VIdeo Jockey and teaser editor: Julius Stefan aka VJ Foolius https://www.facebook.com/FotonXperience/

Music: Curry Collective https: currycollective.bandcamp.com Live recording https://m.twitch.tv/videos/1578986197

Curryfication: Frames of Reference

A fixed point exists only within a group of identically moving objects. The planet Earth is one such system. A drop of a ball on a moving train will be perceived normally by me and other passengers. But how will it be observed by people standing on the station’s platform? The answer is given by the theory of reference frames which forms a basis for the theory of relativity.

In the 1970s, a wave of inspiration for Einstein's insights swept through the United States, and musicians such as Phillip Glass, Steve Reich and Terry Riley translated them into their repetitive compositions. Einstein's theories also inspired artists @bonniedetroit and John K Erskine [with @sherryerskine.art], who were studying at the Michigan State University at the time. They applied the frames of reference theory in their video-art choreography [on rooftops in East Lansing, MI on May 21, 1977], the essence of which was to film two locations simultaneously from five cameras and mix and record this footage live. In addition to the minimalist opera Einstein on the Beach, the artists were inspired by Bonnie’s experience with Japan's NOH Theatre and choreographer / dancer Merce Cunningham.

The result of IGUANA Collaborative’s experiment from 70’s [was] experienced live on 1st September as part of the audiovisual evening Curryfikace. The digitised footage [was] mixed live by VJ Foolius and the soundtrack performed by the improvisational group Curry Collective. A spicy curry was served at the event to enhance the experience. - Jan Horký

Longlisted, RELAY–DELAY Series, Banner Installation, IGUANA Collaborative with Sherry Erskine, John K Erskine and Bonnie Sue Stein. Aesthetica Art Prize 2022 Awards Ceremony and Artist’s Preview, 23 June 2022. Digital exhibition at York Gallery, 24 June-25 September, 2022, York, UK

Cherie Federico, Director of the Aesthetica Art Prize, said: “I am honoured to have the opportunity to engage with, and support, so much talent. Every day I am inspired by these artists. I thank them for giving me the opportunity to experience such captivating work. This year’s Prize received 4,000 artworks, which was then longlisted to 125, then to 20 finalists. The curation process is rigorous; decisions are based on originality, skill and technical ability.”

“The Aesthetica Art Prize is a way to convene, discuss and make sense of the present moment at this critical juncture in history. Art has the power to unite. It is transformative. It takes us to new places, and introduces us to new cultures, but most importantly, it reminds us of our humanity.”

2022 Aesthetica Art Prize Jurors

2022 Aesthetica Art Prize Finalists

2022 Aesthetica Art Prize Profile

RELAY–DELAY Series

May 22, 7:30 pm, Dance Shorts, Grange Hall, Chilmark, MA

“In this film, part of an interdisciplinary series, dancers Sherry Erskine and Bonnie Sue Stein use a video pen-pal structure to investigate concepts of isolation and interconnectedness during the Covide-19 pandemic.” TMVFF

Directors: IGUANA Collaborative: Erskine + Stein

February 13, 2022, 5 pm, Lincoln Center, Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center, NY, NY.

Erskine + Stein [IGUANA Collaborative, RELAY–DELAY Series Epilogue: Rift [Lake Michigan, 2021, digital video, duration 2 min 31 sec, with credits 2:45 minutes, official selection of Dance Films Association curated by Francisco Graciano and Film at Lincoln Center.

December 17, 2021 - January 7, 2022, La MaMa Galleria, NY, NY.

Adjust Your Gaze, What is Sukkot? [Art in Odd Places NYC, 2019], performance by Erskine + Stein and the IGUANA Collaborative team, digital photograph by Deborah Beshaw-Farrell, dye sublimation on metal, float mount frame, 18”h x 24”w.

Opening Oct. 20-22, 2021, extended indefinitely online Fulbright 75 Anniversary Art Exhibition, unframed archival prints, 16” x 24”, $500 each.

This virtual exhibition presents work made by past Fulbright recipients and is mounted in connection with the October Annual Conference, Fulbright at 75: Celebrating a Legacy of Global Friendships. To purchase a print by Sherry Erskine, Fulbright to Uganda 2019, email info@fulbright.org with the specific title. Sales benefit Fulbright and Nagenda International Academy of Art and Design in Entebbe, Uganda.

Mosaic, I, runner up, 2019 Fulbright Program, Photo Contest ‘Connecting People, Connecting Nations.’

Mosaic, II, winner, 2022 West and Mid-Michigan Chapter of the Fulbright Association, First Annual Photo Contest ‘People’.

Links:

Fulbright 75th Anniversary Group Art Exhibition

NIAAD Academy

Mosiac Triptych

Walls Within and Beyond

Sept. 16 - Oct. 3, 2021, ArtPrize, Grand Rapids Public Museum, Grand Rapids, MI.

Erskine + Stein, RELAY-DELAY Installation. Sales of prints in the GRPM Curiosity Shop extended through Nov. 9. Links:

ArtPrize Profile

Auction Link

RELAY–DELAY

Sept 1-30, 2021, Containall, Prague Park Riegrovy Sady, Prague, CZ.

Erskine + Stein, RELAY–DELAY Installation, opening Sept. 1, music by Hearn Gadbois. Link:

Containall

July 2 – 9, 2021, Copeland Gallery, Peckham, London, UK.

Erskine + Stein, RELAY–DELAY Series, Understory, 2021, video screenshot, dye sublimation on metal, float mount frame, 8”h x 12”w. Curated by Eddy Grattan-Bellew and Ruby Streek with support from Every Woman Biennial C. Finley and Molly Caldwell. Invited through a democratic open call, the Salon Exhibition features works for sale by 200+ international and London-based acclaimed and emerging female and non-binary artists, including: Swoon, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Miranda Forrester, Tanaka Mazivanhanga, Michelle Rogers, Sarah Smith, Margaux Walter, Alina Zamanova, and many more. Partners: Aether Magazine, BBZ London, Gal-Dem. Link:

Every Woman Biennial Website

June 24 – July 3, 2021 – Superchief Gallery NFT, NY, NY.

Erskine + Stein, RELAY–DELAY Series, Bed and Rewild, 2021, video, minted by Superchief Gallery NFT on Opensea. The 2021 Every Woman Biennial presents its 1st NFT Biennial. The exhibition is a carbon negative, presented at Superchief Gallery NFT on a series of large screens in the gallery and on the NFT platform links:

Superchief Gallery NFT - EWB

Opensea-EWB

Bed for sale on Opensea

Rewild for sale on Opensea

May 14– 16, extended to May 29, 2021 – 14th Street Y, NY, NY, Gallery and Outside Gate.

Erskine + Stein, RELAY–DELAY Installation, twelve photographs, banners and videos were created for the Art in Odd Places Festival 2021 [AiOP]: NORMAL in New York City at the 14th Street Y. Prints are available in the gallery. Sales benefit the 14th Street Y. RELAY–DELAY Series was created in association with: GOH Productions and Art in Odd Places [AiOP]. Links:

RELAY–DELAY Series

AiOP Artist Page

AiOP Normal

RELAY–DELAY on YouTube

IGUANA Collaborative Bio

This work follows a collaboration between Cleary & Erskine on location in Iceland during the summer of 2019. This is the second time both artists have worked together, based on a shared interest in performance, ritual, rites of passage and responses to selected sites. For this project, Erskine contributed a long-term motif within her own practice, of wrapping the form to explore outer and inner worlds. To this Cleary added a new array of objects of divination, inspired by research into older Icelandic and Nordic belief systems. The work on location was made through intuitive responses to the incredible natural environment of Iceland as a prompt and a platform. The artists travelled out into the land over several weeks, working with both natural and found objects also gathered during the journey. In the post-production stage of the series presented here, Cleary has responded to this source material to further explore her ongoing interest in visual generative myth-making, new technologies, Neo-paganism and magical realism.  

Martina Cleary: Post-production, curation and virtual exhibition design https://www.martinacleary.com

Media image: Cleary & Erskine, Zoe 14, 2021, 100 x 135 x 4 cm (h x w x d), archival photographic print, Cleary (performance & post production), Erskine (camera). Links:

Zoe Artspaces.Kunstmatrix Exhibition Catalog

Zoe Artspaces.Kunstmatrix Exhibition

List of Works

July 10 – August, 29, 2020, Scarab Club, Detroit, MI.  

Erskine, Wrapped In Instinct Triptych [Right], 2016, digital photograph on silky faille banner, 56” w x 86.5” h. Juror: Jeremy Noonan. Uncommon Threads is a juried exhibition of contemporary fiber arts, showcasing a wide range of styles and subject matter. Link:

Scarab Club

January 7 – 25, 2020, Atlantic Gallery, NY, NY.

Erskine, Red Bride At The Blue Door [Torso]. 2019, digital photography, dye sublimation on metal, 18” h x 12” w. Juror, Judith Kruger. The call for artists: In 1947, Mark Rothko wrote: “Pictures must be miraculous: the instant one is completed, the intimacy between the creation and the creator is ended. He is an outsider. The picture must be for him, as for anyone experiencing it later, a revelation…”. The artist makes the work and the viewer sees it consciously and unconsciously without knowing quite how. Artists are asked to submit works that challenge the viewer to question how ideas, plans and materials have been transformed in the act of creation. “

Dec. 18, 2019 - Jan. 17, 2020. La MaMa Galleria, NY, NY.

Erskine + Stein, Clare–Voyance Series, Fabulous Forces, 2017 ed. 2019, portrait collaboration, digital photograph, dye sublimation on metal, float mount frame, 16” h x 24” w.

Dec. 12, 2019 - Jan 19, 2020, Yiddish New York at Staton Street Shul, NY, NY.

Erskine, At One Series, Jökulsárlón Too, self-portrait, digital photograph, dye sublimation on metal, float mount frame, 24” h x 36” w. Published online Dec. 2020. Link:

Utopia: Visions and Traditions - 2019

Oct. 17 - 20, 2019, AiOP Festival, 14th Street, NY, NY.

Erskine + Stein and IGUANA Team, Adjust Your Gaze premiered at Art in Odd Places annual festival along 14th Street in NYC, in the segment called Promenade of Visual Visual Flâneurs/Flâneuse on October 20, 2019. The processional performance was a delightful journey into NYC’s 14th Street commercial and multi-cultural community. In addition to wandering through the 14th Street Target, Duane Reade Pharmacy, and up and down the subway escalator, Iguana performed for a robed priest in front of the Church of the Immaculate Conception and joined participants of both a Hong Kong protest and a Sukkot hut in Union Square Park. Iguana was visibly invisible - able to wander around the world in the span of one mile. Performance: IGUANA Collaborative. Concept and costume design: Sherry Erskine. Concept and choreography: Bonnie Sue Stein. Costume construction: Sherry Erskine and Michelle Beshaw. Photos/official paparazzi: Deborah Beshaw-Farrell. IGUANA Collaborative Team, Adjust Your Gaze: Bonnie Sue Stein, Sherry Erskine, Michelle Beshaw, Roberta Levine, John K Erskine, Vit Horejs. Thanks: Avenue C Studio/Studio 55C, Chef Dan Crozier, Sarazina and Emla, our muses, and members of the AIOP 2019 team: Ed Woodham, LuLu LoLo, Valborg Fletre Linn and Hjordis Linn-Blanford. Links:

Adjust Your Gaze

AiOP 2019 Website

July 20 - Oct. 31, 2019, Pines of Arcadia Gallery, Arcadia, MI.

Group exhibition featuring Christo & Jeanne Claude, Sherry Erskine artist talk on Oct 5.

Erskine + Stein, MOTH-R, 2017, pigment print on silky foile, 9’h x 5’w.

Erskine, Wrapped In Instinct Triptych, [Right], 2016, digital self portrait, pigment print on eco cotton, 56" w x 86.5" h.

Erskine, Fabric8, 2015, 8 digital photographs on cyanotype, Fabriano Hot Press Paper, each 8”h x 8” w, framed.

Erskine, Willow, 2019, digital photograph, self-portrait, dye sublimation on metal, 24”h x 18” w, float mount frame.

July 14 – 26, 2019, Nagenda International Academy of Art and Design, Seyna Art Gallery, Namulanda, Uganda.

Group exhibition of resident artists and facilitators. Erskine, Mosaic Triptych, digital self portrait photographs, camera Robert Ellis, archival pigment prints, 12”h x 18” w, framed. Link:

ARTLab Africa Artist Residency

The Independent Online, June 2020

2019 and 2018, Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, MI.

[91st] September 2019 - July 2020, Erskine, Extraordinary Affliction, digital photograph, dye sublimation on metal, float mount frame, 18”h x 12”w x 1”d. Museum loan to Revel, Muskegon, November, 2019 - July, 2020.

[90th] August - November, 2018, Erskine, Wanders Between Past and Future Like a Heavy Cloud, II, 2016, hand painted pigment print, framed, 41.5”h x 33.5”w x 1”d.

This competitive exhibition presents a look at the issues, themes, and materials inspiring today’s Michigan artists. A visitor favorite, the exhibition engages, challenges, and inspires conversation

Sept. 22 - Nov. 4, 2018, Alden B. Dow Museum of Art, Midland, MI.

Clare–Voyance Diptych: The Imaginal Stage, digital photograph on silk banners, 54” h x 80” w.

Cocoon, digital video on 49” flat screen monitor.

Sept. 20 - Oct. 8, 2017, Spectrum Theater, Grand Rapids, MI.

Erskine, Wrapped In Instinct Triptych, digital photographs, self portraits, pigment prints on silky foile, 56" w x 86.5" h. Link:

ArtPrize Page

July 13 - Aug. 10, 2018, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH.

Erskine, Fabric8, 2015, 8 digital photographs on cyanotype, Fabriano Hot Press Paper, each 8”h x 8” w, framed. International Competition of Recent MFA Graduates, Fabric8, series of cyanotype photographs. Poster and photos by Jason Franz, www.manifestgallery.org, season 14

April 15 - 28, 2017, Burren College of Art, Newtown, Co. Clare, Ireland. MFA Graduate Exhibition. Longlisted by Royal Dublin Society Visual Art Awards.

PsychLoRama, three channel looped video installation by Sherry Erskine, simultaneous projection of MOTH–R, Gallery Gauze Nudes Descending the Staircase and The Imaginal Stage. Mylar, iridescent film, fabric, wood, dimensions variable.

• Clare–Voyance: MOTH–R, 2017, digital looped video by Sherry Erskine with Bonnie Sue Stein. Soundtrack, Four Twenty-Three, by Jonathan Chen Orchestra with John K Erskine. Location sound by John K Erskine. Aillwee Cave, Co. Clare, Ireland. 4:23 minutes.

• Gallery Gauze, Nudes Descending the Staircase, 1977, ed. 2017, 1⁄2” open reel video transfered to digital 2016, by Sherry Erskine and Bonnie Sue Stein, looped, 6:35 minutes.

• The Imaginal Stage, 2017, digital looped video by Sherry Erskine with Bonnie Sue Stein, looped, 1:07 minutes.

Clare–Voyance Triptych, digital photographs on silk banners, 4’11.5” w x 8’10.5” h.

Clare–Voyance Diptych, The Imaginal Stage, digital photograph on silk banner, 54” high x 80” wide and Cocoon, digital video on 49” flat screen monitor, duration 2:00 minutes.

WORK – PsychLoRama

WORK – CLARE–VOYANCE SERIES

Dec. 2016 - Jan. 2017, Burren College of Art, Newtown, Co. Clare, Ireland. MFA interim exhibition exploring the Anthropocene era.

Erskine, Wrapped in Instinct Triptych, digital photographs on silk banners, 4’11.5” w x 8’10.5” h. Erskine + Stein, Psyché [breath], video installation of Park Lake Persona, 1977, and Amphibhumans, 1977.

Sept. 21, 2016, VI PER Galleria, Prague, Czech Republic.

Erskine + Stein, The Gauze Series: 1978-2015, video diptych installation, screening and artist Talk. BEGAUZE is an informance exploring Sherry Erskine and Bonnie Sue Stein’s collaborative interdisciplinary arts practice in performance, video and installation. Their screening and talk is a direct response to the resurrection of their ½ inch open reel video series, Gauze in the Bowl created in 1978. In September 2015, they created a prototype ‘performance with video documented to video’ in Newtown Castle, County Clare, Ireland utilizing Gauze in the Bowl. The resulting digital video Gauze in the Castle, a layered self-portrait spanning forty years, will be displayed with an original percussive soundtrack. The event will also include Ode to Bachelard, 2016, an installation incorporating video projection on sculpture. These works explore place and memory in terms of human interaction and the symbolic function of architectural spaces including a vacant bowling alley, a castle chamber and the form of a house.

Erskine and Stein discussed the theoretical contexts of their work – Jungian archetypes, Gaston Bachelard’s Poetics of Space, and the Japanese NOH Theatre spatial concept known as “MA” (nothingness). Erskine and Stein recently exhibited The Gauze Series: 1978-2015, at La MaMa Galleria in New York City.