COLOR, LIGHT, MOTION, is an online series featuring media artists and scholars in dialogue about artworks from the Bermant Collection of media and kinetic arts. Each featured presenter will discuss selected artworks in history and context and then present their own work and connections. This series is produced in collaboration with Harvestworks NY and the David Bermant Foundation.
ANNE NIEMETZhas been video-documenting the David Bermant Collection since 2004, and has created most of the visual documentation materials found on the Bermant website.
Operating in the field of New Media Art and Design, Anne’s creative work focuses on the convergence of design, technology, art and science. Her work is intentionally collaborative and interdisciplinary, manifesting itself in forms of interactive and non-interactive audio-visual installations, videos, wearable technology designs and electronic art.
Anne holds a Media Arts degree from the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe (HfG), Germany, with a focus in digital media and interactive sound installation. She continued her studies at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) where she received an MFA in Design and Media Arts in 2004. In 2007 she moved to New Zealand, where she holds the position of Senior Lecturer in Media Design at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW). Currently Anne is the programme director of the Bachelor of Design Innovation at VUW.
Stealth Drones is comprised of seven embroidery hoops hung in formation. Each hoop contains fractal patterns and ornamentation embroidered in white thread. The hoops are presented on a black velvet backdrop, much like the display of traditional lace work.
The dark side of the cell is an audio-visual event treating one of the most interesting recent discoveries in nano-biotechnology: cellular sounds.
For a long time musicians have been inspired by microscopic life-forms and the fascinating structures of the smallest building blocks of the universe, but not until now have we been able to listen to the sound of living cells. Much mystery is brought forth by the discovery of cellular sound, and few answers can be given.
Works featured in the discussion
Anne will be discussing several works in the Bermant collection, including Clyde Lynds' Saturn's Other Moon, David Durlach's Dancing Trees II, and Dustin Shuler's Rainforest.
Clyde Lynds - Saturn's Other Moon
David Durlach - Dancing Trees II
Dustin Shuler - The Rainforest
MORE ABOUT THE DAVID BERMANT FOUNDATION
Lumia, Earl Reiback, 1967
The David Bermant Foundation: Color, Light, Motion was established in 1986 with the mission to encourage and advocate experimental visual art which draws its form, content and working materials from late twentieth-century technology. The working materials include physical sources of energy, light, and sound. The resulting artworks question and extend the boundaries of the visual arts. To learn more about The David Bermant Foundation and its collection, visit the foundation website DavidBermantFoundation.org.
The Lasso, Alejandro and Moira Sina, 1997
Susan Hopmans feeling the NanoMandala projection on sand by Victoria Vesna at the Bermant foundation gallery.
Clavilux Junior, First Home Clavilux, Thomas Wilfred, 1930
The collection of 98 works valued at several million dollars includes pieces created by many of the pioneers of technologically based art such as Marcel Duchamp (above image), Nam June Paik, Jenny Holzer, Jean Tinguely, Pol Bury, George Rhoads, John Deandria, James Seawright, and dozens more.
ABOUTDAVID BERMANT
David Bermant was one of the most admired collectors of avant-garde art in the United States. His collection of kinetic art includes works which employ both virtual motion as well as actual motion. Art which utilizes video, holography, magnetism, electronics, robotics, chemistry, and various types of light provide a look into the fourth dimension.
The late David Bermant was born in New York City and grew up in Manhattan. In January of 1941, six months after graduating cum laude from Yale University at age 21, he joined the U.S. Army. He ended his army career as a major of artillery in Patton’s Third Army, earning a bronze star with an oak leaf cluster for his actions. In 1947, he married Ruth Jesephson, and later divorced after 46 years. They had four children: Ann, Jeffrey, Wendy, and Andrew. David then married Susan Hopmans and established homes in Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez valley where he created and maintained facilities to house a large and significant art collection.
David had two great interests: building shopping centers — on the East Coast and in California — and collecting art. Technological art was his favorite because it utilized modern science and technology and was more dynamic than other art that just hung on the wall Bermant felt that such art should be shared in public spaces other than museums and galleries. He established and funded the David W. Bermant Foundation: Color, Light, Motion to ensure the art form most dear to his heart would thrive beyond his lifetime.
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