Looking ahead, this Saturday is another remarkable one for Dallas art. Everyone's organizing fundraisers, new shows and a little late summer experimentation before our holiday schedules fill. You might call up Celine Dion and ask who does her holograms. You'll need one to get to everything.
But push all of that static out of your head, I'll post a list of goings on later in the week. What's important right now is the fog machine at Angstrom.
This Thursday is the final installment of the Power Station's Four Nights, Four Decades series, which we've discussed pretty heavily on this blog. To recap, each week a different area educator introduces a collection of video art from their favorite decade, from the 70s up to this week's lesson in modern work. Also, the whole thing has been free with complimentary drinks -- which is crazy. Power Station's Manager, Danielle Avram, announced during the first class that the project is because "it's summer in Texas and we deserve it." Cheers to that. Well now they've added one extra treat.
On Saturday night the Power Station will take over Angstrom Gallery to project Anthony McCall's 1973 work, Line Describing A Cone. It's a 30 minute film that begins with a dot projected on a screen by a 16mm movie camera. Like a minute hand working at double speed, the spot of light travels around, tracing out from its point of origin. In half an hour you have an entire circle. The fog machine fills the developing cone of flickering light with moist particulate, which when disturbed will bend or distort shadows, causing crazy druid-like shapes.
It's basically sculpture retold through light and film, which is why people recreate Anthony McCall's Solid Light Films. Well that and because they're like, way trippy. It's another free event to expand your video art vocabulary, so time budget into your Saturday. Pop over between 6 and 11 p.m. and play in this freaky cone of light; it'll be showing on a loop, so you'll get about ten chances to see if from start to finish.
Angstrom Gallery is located at 3609 Parry Avenue in Dallas with Line Describing A Cone scheduled for Saturday, September 22. The Power Station is located at 3816 Commerce Street; the final installment of Four Nights, Four Decades goes down on the third floor at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 20.
