Hosted by Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre, award-winning video artist Nelson Henricks will give an electric and entertaining presentation on his remarkable body of work that explores, to great communicative and emotional effect, the infinite permutations of sound and image. A recent example of his work, The Sirens, explores themes that are ever-present in Henricks’ practice: sound and music, textual elements, repetition and the body. The Sirens incorporates 16mm, super 8 and video, as well as guitar amps and a "slide" show in an installation that locates the body within sound. Extreme close-ups of technology related to sound recording and production reveal the intimate relationship between sound and the body: a hand places the needle on a record, a UV meter quivers, acupuncture needles seem to tremble and water ripples rhythmically from sound vibrations. Revealing and looking at its effects and interactions, Henricks makes sound visible.
Henricks’ presentation is concurrent with “Thinking Inside the Box” (Jan. 17 – Feb. 21, 2009), an exhibition of interactive video art by Montreal-based artist, Christopher Flower, continuing Modern Fuel’s history in Kingston as a venue for contemporary Canadian new media art. Henricks’ presentation is made possible through the support of the Film and Media Department of Queen’s University.
Nelson Henricks lives and works in Montréal, where he teaches at Concordia University. A musician, writer, curator and artist, Henricks is best known for his videotapes, which have been exhibited worldwide. His writings have been published in Fuse, Public, and Coil magazines, and in the anthologies "So, To Speak" (Editions Artexte, 1999), "Lux" (YYZ Press, 2000) and "Caught in the Act" (YYZ Press, 2004). With Steve Reinke, Henricks coedited an anthology of artist's video scripts entitled "By the Skin of Their Tongues" (YYZ Press, 1997). Henricks was the recipient of the Bell Canada Award (2002) for outstanding achievement in video art.