On the pod, I am thrilled to be joined by JESSICA MALLIOS. This episode continues our series of conversations with artists participating in VAST IS THE SEA is a series curated by @porchswingorchestra consisting of 8 presentations from artists whose diverse works are united by their explorations of images, sound, and community presented by Co-Lab projects in Austin, Texas.
Our final presentations will occur at 7 and 8 pm on Saturday, February 24th.
Jessica will present her sound and video work, SUBVISUAL
On Saturday, February 24th at 7 pm
You can purchase tickets on a sliding scale starting at $5 at https://withfriends.co/event/17182339/vast_is_the_sea
Co-Lab Projects is a legendary art space whose current configuration is a 40 x 10 x 10-foot concrete culvert sitting on an open plot of land just east of the city. The culvert will be awash in projections and stereo sounds on either end of the ceiling. The floor is covered in a sea of moving blankets.
Viewers/listeners are invited to lay next to the performers occupying the center to become a raft in an ocean of sounds gazing at a visionary sky.
Jessica Mallios is an artist and educator based in San Marcos, TX. She earned an MFA from Bard College and is an Associate Professor in the School of Art and Design at Texas State University. Mallios is a founding member of the Lakes Were Rivers artist collective in Austin, TX. Her work consists of photography, video, and installation exploring the physicality of light and space. Central to her practice are visibility, invisibility, temporal shifts, scale distortions, and destabilized materiality. Informed by the history of optical media and the evolving viewing apparatus, her research-based approach responds to sites and structures of cultural and architectural significance.
I have known Jessica for many years, as a friend, colleague at Texas State, collaborator, and artist. When I first moved back to Texas Jessica was part of the extremely talented photographers I met living around Austin. We formed a crit club that eventually became the Collective Lakes Were Rivers..
For our conversation, we keep it current focusing on Mallios’ work for the PSO’s Vast is the Sea Series. We talk about solar winds, Lighthouse keepers, Iceland, Observation towers, in Dubai and London, all places Mallios has made and is currently making work in and about. We get into weeds about opticality, time, and the apparatus of the camera, but also about more down-to-earth subjects like motherhood, and the shared struggles of making work as a parent, educator, and an artist all in one.
After our conversation, we will hear some audio excerpts, which encompass the inaudible, at least without the aid of the apparatus, Solar winds, and sounds from the mountains of Iceland.
LINKS and REFERENCES
PORCH SWING ORCHESTRA
https://porchswingorchestra.org/
Tickets to VAST IS THE SEA https://withfriends.co/event/17182339/vast_is_the_sea
CO-LAB PROJECTS
https://www.co-labprojects.org/
JESSICA MALLIOS’ WEBSITE
http://jessicamallios.com/
VAST IS THE SEA is supported in part by grants from the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department, Texas Commission on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, H-E-B, and Co-Lab Projects Members.
VAST IS THE SEA: A CONVERSATION WITH JESSICA MALLIOS