As members of the PopRally committee, the organizing group behind a program of events, concerts, screenings, and more at MoMA and MoMA PS1, we’re always thinking up ways to hold an exciting party that’s something much more than your average DJ night. Some of our best events have allowed the public to creatively engage with the artwork hanging on the gallery walls. So when the Museum decided to hold the historic exhibition Inventing Abstraction, 1910–1925, featuring the avant-garde artists who created the very first abstract pictures, and Abstract Generation: Now in Print, focusing on young contemporary artists continuing in this tradition today, we knew building an event around abstraction could lead to something special.
Abstraction can be found anywhere, even by just looking at something from a new angle. It can immediately turn the mundane into a discovery of new form and color. And with a video camera no further away than our cell phones, the most average moments can be caught and transformed into abstract art in motion.
Last week PopRally launched its call for abstract videos with this simple challenge:
SEE ABSTRACT ART AT MoMA.
inventingabstraction.tumblr.com
MAKE A ONE-MINUTE ABSTRACT VIDEO.
ADD IT TO OUR VIMEO GROUP.
vimeo.com/groups/poprallyabstract
SEE IT AT MoMA APRIL 7.
All videos added to the Vimeo group will be screened at our Sunday, April 7, event on several screens and projections across the Gund Lobby and Marron Atrium walls, and the galleries will be open for a special private viewing of both abstraction-themed exhibitions. Dream-pop queen Tamaryn will DJ the event, providing a hypnotic soundtrack to the collectively built abstract videoscape. Tickets for the event are on sale now.
The call for submissions is open to everyone, but to get the ball rolling we’ve invited a couple of our favorite video artists, Jennifer Juniper Stratford and EyeBodega, to participate:
Jennifer Juniper Stratford is a director based in Los Angeles. Her production company, Telefantasy Studios, produces cult movies, music videos, and experimental films using an innovative mix of practical, analog, and computer-generated effects.
EyeBodega is a multidisciplinary New York City design studio founded by Rob Chabebe and Joe Perez. They work in a variety of visual mediums for a large cross-section of publications, musicians, DIY holes in walls, and art museums, in a style once described as “post-apocalyptic modernism.”
PopRally’s Abstract Currents event will take place from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 7, at MoMA. Tickets are available now and video submissions can be made at vimeo.com/groups/poprallyabstract.