~’UNDER THE VOLCANO’ . . VIRTUAL DREAM CENTER / SCREENED ON EP7, PARIS / SEPT 14
re: PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE BUILDING / THIS IS:
PEOPLE PEOPLE EXHIBIT / VIRTUAL ARCHIVE / BUILDING.
JEAN-BAPTISTE LENGLET . . of VDC / VIRTUAL DREAM CENTER, PARIS . .
presented, what looks to be a 4-story high screening, of ‘Virtual Dream Center 1.1’ . .
which is . . a virtual / re-construction of the pop-up exhibit,
‘UNDER THE VOLCANO: SIMON CERIGO, DAN ASHER, NANCY SMITH’,
A one weekend pop-up painting show / which looked back at the truly hardcore Lower East 80s NYC art scene, as seen through the work of these 3 artists, who were very active in that art scene, but have not been recognized in the general, more mainstream ‘take’ . . of what is usually regarded as the ‘canon’ of the times.
but, their work and personal dynamic, cannot seem be restrained from slowly bursting through that crusted-over misconception & hence the title . . ‘Under the Volcano’.
or, the real fire / under the top layer of what was . . the almighty Lower East Side / 80s art scene.
this historic, archival, break-out exhibit, completely comprised of original works by all 3 artists,
was staged at 169 Bowery St, in an empty & large storefront, in NYC’s Chinatown.
running June 6-8, 2015 / the exhibit was curated by KATE & THEO CERIGO, with art works selected,
from their own family collection.
Kate and Theo, who grew up in a storefront on Rivington St., just off the Bowery, when it was raw and explosive with the likes of Basquiat and Haring, were immersed in this wildly creative milieu / being the now 20-something (in 2015), children of Simon and Nancy, and Dan . . was like their wild crazy sushi-loving uncle.
NICHOLAS STEINDORF, a digital artist & friend of Kate’s, who actually helped with the behind-the-scenes staging of the show, and who had already produced some digital projects for VDC / VIRTUAL DREAM CENTER . . brought the exhibit to the attention of Paris-based JEAN-BAPTISTE, who received the show with great interest, and together / they re-created an ‘interactive’ digital version of the show, based on photographs taken at the time.
as well, Nicholas re-created the street ambience, sound, & architecture of the Bowery and the exhibit, which brought it very much to life, & Jean-Baptiste interjected some surreal ‘urban’ collage / visual animation / ‘parkour’.
this is . . EP7, the bar / restaurant & a (very) modernist building – located at 133 avenue de France, Paris . .
where the VDC / ‘UNDER THE VOLCANO’ screening, was held . .
as part of a 2 week video presentation, curated by CARLOS SANCHEZ-BAUTISTA / all projects, screening 4 stories high, on the (very) modernist front exterior.
here you can see the start of the ‘Under the Volcano’ screening / with a digital rendering of The Bowery, as it was back in the summer of 2015, digitially re-created, and animated by NICHOLAS STEINDORF.
I remember having many conversations with him, about just how many garbage bags, to place along the street / the signage & the shut, metal storefront security ‘gates’ . . are also ‘authentic’ / see detail, lower right.
this is . . The BOWERY, in NYC.
the exhibit took place on the right-hand side of the street, in a storefront – within that group of old buildings.
in a few minutes, the animation will take you inside the door, and into the exhibit.
it’s an interesting feature of real-life Parisian architecture, to see the carefully constructed animation, presented in a very ‘deconstructed’ manner . . on the ‘brute’ exterior.
there we are, SIMON, DAN, and me . . in an image captured, and made large, from an archival photo from 1981 / which was used as the ‘Under the Volcano’s . . . invite / card.
SIMON and me, from the same photo. the screening took place Sept 14, 2018.
it took me about 2 weeks to get my head around the fact, that my head had been projected 4 stories high – on a big, Paris St. !!!!
a charcoal drawing by DAN ASHER . . peeps out / on Paris !!
a painting, of KEITH HARING . . by SIMON CERIGO.
JEAN-BAPTISTE LENGLET & VIRTUAL DREAM CENTER present: ‘VDC / VIRTUAL DREAM CENTER 1.1’
‘UNDER THE VOLCANO: SIMON CERIGO, DAN ASHER, NANCY SMITH’ . .
“sur la facade monumental de l’EP7, Paris.”
the original exhibit card: ‘UNDER THE VOLCANO: SIMON CERIGO, DAN ASHER,NANCY SMITH’JUNE 5-7, 2015
from an archival photo of the 3 us, taken in 1981 in NYC / we were just about 30 yrs old, Dan was a few years older. Simon had drawn around the edges, with blue oil stick.
image courtesy: KATE & THEO CERIGO
you can access ‘VIRTUAL DREAM CENTER 1.1’ / ‘UNDER THE VOLCANO’… on the VDC platform
for a . . FREE DOWNLOAD / hit here !!
artwork – by NANCY SMITH
for more background info, incl the show’s original press release & installation photos . . .
hit . . ‘UNDER THE VOLCANO – VDC’
watch: VIRTUAL DREAM CENTER, ‘Under the Volcano’ . . at EP7 on YOUTUBE / Sept 15, 2018
watch: a brief walk-though of the animated ‘UNDER THE VOLCANO’ / posted to Youtube by NICHOLAS STEINDORF
ALL PHOTOS OF THE PARIS SCREENING: COURTESY JEAN-BAPTISTE LEGLET / VDC