A Snake on a Tree

Roberto Ago, Cecilia Bonilla, Joshua Callaghan, Wojciech Gilewicz, Pernille With Madsen, Chris Moukarbel, Ana Prvacki, Moira Ricci, Lucia Uni, Virginie Yassef, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries.

A Snake on a Tree
Video Selections by Marco Antonini

Friday, June 13
Admission: Free
Late Night Screening: 12:30am
(Show up around 11/11:30pm to chill up and have a drink with us!)

at MONKEYTOWN
58, N. 3rd Street (Between Wythe and Kent)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Subway: L Train (Bedford)
t. 718.384.1369
www.monkeytownhq.com

What do we think when we read the words: “A snake on a tree”? This short phrase (the title of a text-based work by Roberto Ago), can function as the departure point for an inspiring exercise in “directed” imagination. A snake on a tree. Is it a biblical image? Does it suggest an ordinary or rather an unexpected, potentially threatening event? Is it just a metaphor? And of what, exactly?

This screening stages a conversation between videos that somehow need the viewer’s attention and imagination to be “completed” and fully understood/enjoyed. Fragmentary discourses, visual suggestions and the uninhibited use of cinematic, lexical and vernacular tropes abound. Text is often used as image, while images tend to be flattened down, reduced to their literal meaning or used to conceal and mislead.

The screening was edited and produced with the help of Video Art World. Thanks to Blanca de la Torre, Macu Moran, Raul Martinez/ArtBus, White Box and all the involved artists for their support.