:: Shalom Gorewitz - Video Artist ::

Still Dancing, a 17 1/2 minute video based on the rhythmic processing of digital images, was recorded with a digital still camera and processed with a variety of imaging software during summer, 2002. Many of the images refer to Paris and France, but were all recorded in and around NYC. Paris becomes a “dream city,” a terrain of cinematic memories, where anything can happen, where solidity is dissolved. The array of digital signal processors that I used to pulse waves, ripples, and other oscillations through images refer to the most elemental of repetitive patterning- wave forms are part of every fluid moment.

The title can be read to literally describe my strategy to make still images move in dancerly ways. It raises the question- is it possible to be motionless while moving, or moving while still? I choose music the way a choreographer selects music for a dance. “La Vie En Rose” by Edith Piaf is evocative of Parisian style, fashion, and nostalgia. Astor Pizzarello’s tango, reminiscent of French film soundtracks, is used to accentuate the fragmentation and reemergence of the images in constant motion and drama. Charles Mingus’ piano performance of his composition “Meditation for Moses” anchors images triggered by 9/11 of wavering buildings, mystical visions, and lyrical longings for peace and justice. Song for Union chanted by Joanne Shenandoah is a traditional Hopi chant here played over a delicate tapestry of technological debris when electricity meets water. Images of Buddha, Freud, and nature point to the many ways to filter meaning and emotion. The video concludes with Etta James classic “At Last,” a lush, romantic counterpoint to the sometimes-humorous sways, bows, and prostrations of people and memorial sculptures trapped in a metaphysical dance.

Since my tapes are personal, it is sometimes important to put things into a larger context. Summer, 02- my father is slowly passing away, and I’ve spent considerable amount of time helping to care for him. The repercussions of 9/11 and continued war between Israel and Palestine weigh heavy in my heart and mind. The news is dominated by talk of an invasion of Iraq. During imaging sessions I couldn’t avoid these traumatic subjects, but also wanted to play against the gloominess I often felt by finding the stillness within me while contemplating the possibility of love, faith, and freedom that lifts the spirit despite pain, even during the most difficult periods.


	Still Dancing, a 17 1/2 minute video based on the rhythmic processing of digital images, was recorded with a digital still camera and processed with a variety of imaging software during summer, 2002. Many of the images refer to Paris and France, but were all recorded in and around NYC. Paris becomes a “dream city,” a terrain of cinematic memories, where anything can happen, where solidity is dissolved. The array of digital signal processors that I used to pulse waves, ripples, and other oscillations through images refer to the most elemental of repetitive patterning- wave forms are part of every fluid moment. The title can be read to literally describe my strategy to make still images move in dancerly ways. It raises the question- is it possible to be motionless while moving, or moving while still? I choose music the way a choreographer selects music for a dance. “La Vie En Rose” by Edith Piaf is evocative of Parisian style, fashion, and nostalgia. Astor Pizzarello’s tango, reminiscent of French film soundtracks, is used to accentuate the fragmentation and reemergence of the images in constant motion and drama. Charles Mingus’ piano performance of his composition “Meditation for Moses” anchors images triggered by 9/11 of wavering buildings, mystical visions, and lyrical longings for peace and justice. Song for Union chanted by Joanne Shenandoah is a traditional Hopi chant here played over a delicate tapestry of technological debris when electricity meets water. Images of Buddha, Freud, and nature point to the many ways to filter meaning and emotion. The video concludes with Etta James classic “At Last,” a lush, romantic counterpoint to the sometimes-humorous sways, bows, and prostrations of people and memorial sculptures trapped in a metaphysical dance. Since my tapes are personal, it is sometimes important to put things into a larger context. Summer, 02- my father is slowly passing away, and I’ve spent considerable amount of time helping to care for him. The repercussions of 9/11 and continued war between Israel and Palestine weigh heavy in my heart and mind. The news is dominated by talk of an invasion of Iraq. During imaging sessions I couldn’t avoid these traumatic subjects, but also wanted to play against the gloominess I often felt by finding the stillness within me while contemplating the possibility of love, faith, and freedom that lifts the spirit despite pain, even during the most difficult periods.
	< return to list