SOUTHFIRST 60 N6th Street Brooklyn, NY 11211 www.southfirst.org ph 718 599 4884

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 29 April 2003

May 2003-June 2003

ELECTRICITY IS FUN WHEN LOVID PLAYS SYNCHRO AT SOUTHFIRST GALLERY

Southfirst gallery introduces Tali Hinkis and Kyle Lapidus as LoVid, a video and performance collaborative, in their first solo gallery exhibition, from May 9-June 16, 2003. The show features drawings, handmade video wear, video stills mounted on galvanized steel, three video/sound stations, and a giant wall collage. Performances by LoVid and friends will take place on Saturday, May 10 from 6-8 PM and Saturday, June 7 from 6-8 PM.

In LoVid performances, live video and sound are created and processed using homemade and modified electronic devices. LoVid have previously appeared at the Queens Museum of Art, Gale-Martin Fine Art, as a part of Perfect if On at Andrew Kreps gallery, and most recently at Psych Out 2K3 during the NY Underground Film Festival at Anthology Film Archives. At the exhibition at Southfirst, new LoVid outfits will be on display; during the performances Hinkis and Lapidus will wear this handmade video wear. The outfits incorporate 14 synchronized 5.6” LCD screens with1” full-range 8 Ohm speakers. The protective sports-wear and cables are covered in hand-sewn patchwork videostills printed on cloth. The video-wear combines two aspects which characterize LoVid’s production: hi-tech video and sound experimentation and a bricolage, handmade aesthetic.

Drawings on newsprint and paper with colored pencil, crayon, ballpoint and sparkle pens, and a giant collage, are also on display. The images depict technology in a loving and romantic fashion. In Optipod, a television monitor combines with a woman’s face; repeating patterns include cellular growth and video cables. The pieces depict technology as an organic and utopian part of daily systems, connected to emotional as well as electrical and informational life. Three videos, Lines, HertzBurst, and PsychOut, investigate the decay of electrical and low-video signals. Lines is a closed circuit feedback loop. This synesthetic composition brings into play different sensory media co-operatively: sound and image. As the electrical signal deteriorates, the audio and video transforms.

Kyle Lapidus has been actively involved in noise and experimental music for over ten years, and his recordings have been released on a variety labels. Since 2001 Kyle has been a member of the group LEMUR that received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to build musical robots. Kyle has recently finished the robot Shiva, that will be featured in the July issue of Wired and exhibited in Artbots at Eyebeam in New York. His partner and wife, Tali Hinkis is a multidisciplinary artist and a curator. Born in Jerusalem, she studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Since 2000 she has performed live video in a variety of venues including The Knitting Factory, Tonic, Exit Art and Art in General. In 1998 Hinkis co-founded the annual event called La Suprette, an art market for original functional art made in multiples most recently shown at Cuchifritos in New York. Her video “Behind Sacred” will be featured in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lisbon in May.

Opening reception for ELECTRICITY IS FUN WHEN LOVID PLAYS SYNCHRO: Sat., May 10, 6-8 PM.

Southfirst projects include a subscription edition program with works by emerging artists. The gallery is located on 60 N6th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Gallery hours: Fri & Sat 1-9 PM, Sun 1-7 PM and by appointment. Subway: L train to Bedford Avenue. For more information, please contact Maika Pollack at 718 599 4884 or info@southfirst.org.