Movement and Meaning

Barak Chamo, Louise LEssél, Mohammad Rahmani, Jason Yung

curated by Jason Yung

January 27th, 2021 – March 31st, 2021

VIRTUAL OPENING RECEPTION: Wednesday, January 27th, 6pm–8pm
Email contact@sfaprojects.com to RSVP

This exhibition is by appointment only

RESERVE A VIEWING TIME & DATE

131 Chrystie Street, New York, NY 10002

SFA Projects is proud to present MOVEMENT AND MEANING, an exhibition of works by Barak Chamo, Louise Lessél, Mohammad Rahmani, and Jason Yung. The artists explore the connection between the movement of light and the different meanings embodied in these movements. From the mating flashes of the male firefly, to the abstract geometry expressed by a school of fish in motion, to the light guiding subway travellers in subterranean darkness, to light as mediating the relationship between subject and object – these explorations pose the question: what is the relationship between movement and meaning?  

Barak Chamo​ is an interdisciplinary media artist living and working in New York. His work explores the limits of perception; what is seen and unseen by the human system. Questioning common notions of progress and value, he attempts to deconstruct the form and function of media, exposing the ways in which our experience is shaped by spiraling social and technological forces. His research-based practice is inspired by the materiality of media, from the inner layers of digital displays to optical films that reveal the subjectivity of observation – Chamo employs “technological material” in drawing parallels between the limits of our physical and social senses – from the shortcomings of our visual systems to our cultural misconceptions. Chamo is a faculty member at the School of Visual Art’s Interaction Design department and a former Adjunct Professor at NYU’s Integrated Digital Media program. He was a resident at MASS MoCA’s Studio program, HoloCenter and IDEALab and was awarded the IDFA Immersive Non-Fiction Award and Special Jury Award for Creative Technology. His work was recently featured at Currents New Media, Fresh Paint Art Fair, Museum of the Moving Image and other international exhibitions.

Louise Lessél​ is a Danish new media artist and creative technologist based in New York. She creates digital projections and interactive light installations based on scientific facts and data input, often exploring the limits of the human perceptual system and raising ecological awareness. Louise holds two degrees in Computer Science and a degree in interactive arts from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Her works have been exhibited at light festivals across the world, including Lumiere Festival, London, River of Lights, Liverpool, CPH Light Festival, Copenhagen and the NYCxDesign Exhibition, New York. Louise’s sculptural artworks serve as a reminder of the both calming and overwhelming feelings that the natural world brings out in us in an increasingly digital future in which humans feel more disconnected from nature than ever before. The artworks center on the communications of the natural world that at times can be completely invisible to humans, where seemingly random movements have untold deeper meanings.

Mohammad Rahmani ​is a New York-based interactive media artist and new media researcher from Iran. His work explores how meaning is derived through observation and how perception shifts through semantic frameworks. His work sees understanding as a reciprocity between the observer, the object, and their environment; with the body being a point of view upon the world. He builds immersive experiences that invite viewers to observe through an embodied interaction with the object and the space, and experience an alternate reality through shifting abstractions. His work has been featured in Archuwum Art Transparent, TADAEX Festival, and ACM SIGGRAPH Conference. He has a background in observational astronomy, computer science, and media production, and served as vice-chair in Tehran ACM SIGGRAPH before graduating from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program.

Jason Yung​ is a New York-based Canadian new media artist working primarily in light, using LEDs. Yung studied painting at the Arts Students League of New York, and now aims to integrate the visual principles of traditional painting into new media through his experiments with LEDs. His main artistic influences are: Mark Rothko, James Turrell, Edward Hopper and John Dewey. Yung has strong interests in Jungian psychology, philosophy and spirituality, which lie at the root of his esthetic expression. Art is Yung’s second career — previously, he was a Canadian diplomat. Yung graduated from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) in 2019. His works have been displayed in various shows and festivals around the world, including Miami, Rome and Montreal, as well as various galleries in New York City. Yung’s first solo show at SFA projects ran from August – October 2020