The Project is pleased to present an exhibition by New York based media and sound artist, Stephen Vitiello. Working in the interstice between sound and visual art and continuing the tradition forged by artists like John Cage, and Bruce Nauman, Stephen Vitiello concentrates on presenting sound as subject matter. Vitiello creates sound installations using electronically manipulated and nature-based sounds, city noise, and pulsing instrumentals. For this exhibition the artist will include sound/action objects consisting of destroyed speakers.
The Project is pleased to present an exhibition by New York based media and sound artist, Stephen Vitiello.
Working in the interstice between sound and visual art and continuing the tradition forged by artists like John
Cage, and Bruce Nauman, Stephen Vitiello concentrates on presenting sound as subject matter. Vitiello
creates sound installations using electronically manipulated and nature-based sounds, city noise, and
pulsing instrumentals. For this exhibition the artist will include sound/action objects consisting of destroyed
speakers. The emitted sounds are of the destructive events, played back through the damaged, re-defined
objects. Also included are photographs with audio components that relate to the visual subject matter of the
pieces. On the second floor of the gallery, the artist will present "Spinning pheres" which is a play on Bruce
Nauman's silent film of spinning ball bearings. Vitiello's adapation is a recreation of the event without the
visual element.
The installation will consist of four inconspicuous speakers with a central rotating speaker mounted to the
ceiling. These installations alter space audibly, engulfing the viewer in an investigation of the nature of sight
and sound. Shape and color seem to appear and recede within the structures of Vitiello's installations, while
groovy musical riffs and complex compositions shift between the tempered hi-fi rumble of recorded
instrumentals and low-fi environmental sounds. These profound intersections transform aural detritus to
varied instrumentation of warmth and resonance.
Stephen Vitiello is included in this year's Whitney Biennial and recent installations include The Project, NY
and the PS 1/MOMA curated exhibition, "Greater New York" (2000). In July 2000, the Dia Center for the Arts
published the CD-ROM "Fantastic Prayers," a collaborative work with artist, Tony Oursler, and writer
Constance DeJong. "Fantastic Prayers" was presented as a performance at The Performing Garage, NY as
an off-site event of The 1997 Whitney Biennial Exhibition, also as part of Dia's Rooftop Urban Park Project, at
The National Galerie Hamburger Bahnhoff, Berlin, at the Festival of Film and Architecture, Graz, Austria and
The Philadelphia Museum of Art. Other works include "Tailspin" a four channel audio environment, for the
Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon's exhibition "Musiques en Scene," (1999) and a site-specific project for
the 91st floor of the World Trade Center (1999), for which Vitiello received a Radio/Sound Art Fellowship from
the Jerome Foundation. In addition to music based work, Vitiello directed the video "Nam June Paik: SeOUL
NyMAx Performance, 1997 "Dress Rehearsal and The Last Ten Minutes." Vitiello has collaborated with artists
such as Tony Oursler, Nam June Paik, filmmakers Jem Cohen and Eder Santos, and master cellist
Frances-Marie Uitti. He was recently awarded the Penny McCall Award from the Penny McCall Foundation.
The Project is located at 427 West 126th Street, between Morningside and Amsterdam Avenues.
Hours of operation are Wednesday through Sunday 12pm-6pm.
For the quickest routes from downtown or midtown, take the A or D train to 125th
Street and walk one block north and one and a half blocks west.
Upcoming exhibitions:
Martin Weber Mar. 24-Apr. 28, 2002
Tracey Rose May 5-June 9, 2002
The Project
427 West 126th Street, New York
Tel: 212/662-8610, Fax: 212/662-2800