Coinciding with the 2017 MFA Thesis Exhibitions at Gallery 400, the graduating MFA students from the School of Art & Art History at University of Illinois at Chicago present a series of works for the screen at Nightingale Cinema.

Program:

Caleb Foss, Dirty Data, 9 minutes
Dirty Data science fictionalizes everyday systems that place an individual in a hall of two-way mirrors, the other side of which lies an unknown spectator. Drone video, biometrics, virtual reality, facial tracking, and a cardboard box collide in one apparatus built to dissect Caleb Foss’ head and soil the data inside.

Chris Hoag, Botany w/ Canal Stamps & Artifact, 2017, 16mm, 2 mins.
Botany w/ canal stamps & artifact.

Lorenzo Gattorna, way of the gods, 2016, S8/35mm to HD, 10:05 mins.
“The mysterious stirs a reaction: an ah! This ah! is not an ah ha! or Eureka — that is, an exclamation of discovering an answer. The ah! response to mystery is more a dumbfounded recognition and appreciation of an inexplicable power or presence. For Shinto, though, the point is to accept the awesome as part of the world in which we live. To deny or try to eradicate the wondrous mystery is no less than to run away from home.”
—Shinto: The Way Home, Thomas Kasulis
Music: In a Silent Way, Miles Davis, 1969

Nellie Kluz, All The Witches, 2016, 4:05 mins.
Witches, cinematographers and other members of the crew pass a night together in the woods in Film City, Mumbai.

Zachary Hutchinson, FINAL DAYS, 2016, 3:48 mins.
“It’s basically the queer rapture.”

Chris Hoag, Heat Sink w/ Heat Sinks & Favor Spelled the British Way, 2017, 16mm, 2 mins.
Heat sink w/ heart sinks & favor spelled the British way.

Jose Luis Benavides, Lulu’s Journal, 2017, digital video, 4:32 mins.
In this video-poem the artist collects his own thoughts projected in the voice of his mother to tell parts of her story previously untold in their many recorded conversations throughout the documentary process. Through a collection of episodic journal entries and poetic investigations, the voice of the young artist Amanda Cervantes reenacts the queer, Latina youth of Lourdes or Lulu. Rather than embody her they reflect a psychic space and interiority; the private place of reflection and consciousness muted by the institution and the insidious powers of patriarchal Western culture.

Chris Hoag, Pork Operations w/ Spinning & Bauble from the Shelf by the Ficus, 2016, 16mm, 1 min.
Pork operations w/ spinning & bauble from the shelf by the Ficus.

Jose Luis Benavides, Postcard from Read, 2015, digital video, 3:08 mins.
Modeled after collectable postcards of American mental institutions and asylums, this video-poem juxtaposes the bucolic landscapes of Chicago-Read Mental Health Center with a narrated nightmare journaled by the artist’s mother, Lourdes Benavides, who spent her teenage years at the aforementioned facility. Her voice and dream reflect a psychosexual landscape and the effects of institutionalized homophobia on one woman of color. Through the broken fences and cattail reeds, this video postcard mimics a style of historic ephemera to questions the legacy of institutions and the lasting ties of queer bonding and inherited trauma.

Chris Hoag, Chase Liquid w/ Sections, esp. Section IV, 2016, 16mm, 2 mins.
Chase liquid w/ sections, esp. section IV.

Jose Luis Benavides, 1972 Commission on Mental Health, 2016, digital video, 7mins.
Sourced from official transcripts of the February 15, 1972 Commission on Mental Health held at Chicago-Read Mental Health Center, the artist unearths and revives this historic text. In this all Latina-centered reenactment the artist recast this commission in a queer, brown, accented and feminist s

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Tags: Caleb Foss, Chicago, Chris Hoag, Jose Luis Benavides, Lorenzo Gattorna, Nellie Kluz, The Nightingale, UIC MFA 2017: Works for the Screen, West Town, Zachary Hutchinson