Michelle Lisa Herman

LAYC Intro to Video Course

michelle — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 04:50:25 +0000

I have been asked to teach an Intro to Video course beginning January 19, 2012 at the Latin American Youth Center in Columbia Heights (DC). In this course, I’ll be teaching the basics of video post-production using Final Cut Express.
So, if you’ve been wanting to get into movie making but haven’t had the chance, sign up! Visit the Art and Media House website to register.

Connecting in the Digital Age: Inter-Net

michelle — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:31:40 +0000

People have worried about the effect of technology on the human spirit for centuries. Michelle Lisa Herman’s Coup d’Espace installation, Inter-Net takes on the topic with wit and compassion. The three pieces included in the installation, Social Network, Virtual Window and Love Letters (Language is a Virus), each play with the juxtaposition of human and machine, offering a perspective that melds the sinister with the soulful.

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Inter-Net featured on NPR

michelle — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 05:55:33 +0000

http://wamu.org/audio-player?nid=38500

Inter-Net Exhibition

michelle — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 04:51:56 +0000

Washington Project for the Arts Presents
Inter-Net
a Coup d’Espace Project by Michelle Lisa Herman
November 4 – November 23, 2011
Opening Reception: Friday, November 4, 6-8pm

at 2023 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC
Exhibition Hours: Monday – Friday, 10am-6pm

Washington Project for the Arts is pleased to present Inter-Net, a Coup d’Espace project by Michelle Lisa Herman. An interdisciplinary artist working in multimedia video installation, audio sculpture, and new media, Herman’s work explores the impact of new communication technologies on our desire for connection, both with one another and with the natural world. For Inter-Net, she presents three new projects that grapple with the increased use of technology to mimic and mediate human experience. As our interactions with one another and the natural world become increasingly mediated through new technology, we face both new opportunities for connection, coupled with a decrease in direct human contact. Herman explores this new communications landscape, finding alienation, but also humor and unexpected poetry.

Inter-Net is funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

24 Hour Intelligent Cities Video Webcast

michelle — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 20:15:38 +0000

I just found the link to the webcast interview as part of the 24 Hour Intelligent Cities Project and wanted to share it here. Enjoy!
Intelligent Cities Forum: 24-Hour City Project

24 Hour Intelligent Cities

michelle — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 01:21:28 +0000

Today was the culmination of about 3 weeks working on an installation that was on display at the National Building Museum as part of the 24 Hour Cities Project / Intelligent Cities Forum. I collaborated with local dramaturg Elissa Goetschius, photographer Chris Mabry, and photographer/producer Dallas Lillich to create the installation “Layered Portraits.” The main piece is made up of small plexiglas squares coated with a translucent rear-projection screen film which were then strung together with monofilament to create a floating, 3-dimensional, pixel-like screen. The subjects projected are DC residents, which we also audio recorded and played (asynchronously) with the video. A projection of a live twitter stream displaying DC statistics was also included.

Check out Dallas Lillich’s blog post on the project to see more photos and read the bios!

Love Letters (Language is a Virus)

michelle — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 20:43:50 +0000

I’ve been working on a new video art piece for some time which is a video spin-off of the sculpture/sound piece with the same name (to see that, check it out in the work section). I’ve done a few different shoots with different people (thanks Chajana and Tony), but the most recent version was closest in look and sound to what I was envisioning, but I may try to do more shoots of other types of relationships later on.

I’m still not sure if this is finished, since I thought about adding other visual elements, but the more I watch this, the more I like the total simplicity. So, please take a moment to look and if you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to send them to me.

I was inspired to make the piece by reading several emails, which disguised themselves as friendly personal letters (indicated by subject lines of “hello friend,” “how have you been?”, etc) and turned out to be spam emails advertising Viagra. The emails often contained long passages of text that seemed coherent at first, but then revealed that they were random internet facts strung together into paragraphs. I imagined these emails as love letters sent specifically to me and from there I thought about a fictional relationship in which the couple communicated exclusively in the language of spam. I thought that it spoke to both the idea of the lack of communication (talking without saying anything) as well as a secret system of communication that only a level of connection can bring.

The dialog is the actual text of a single spam email.

Work in progress

michelle — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:48:56 +0000

Since I received the Young Artist Grant, I’ve been working on getting two new installations underway. I thought I’d post some images of the work in progress for Sensing, an audio installation. I am creating 10 “orbs” which will hang from the ceiling. Each orb will have an audio device and speakers, which are triggered by a motion sensor. Here’s an example of one of the orbs:

I’ll post more pictures as the work starts coming together.

(somewhat) Recent Press

michelle — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 02:08:27 +0000

I had been meaning to post this link once I got my site in order, so here it is:

Anne Teahan visits the Kennedy Center to interview artist Michelle Lisa Herman.

Sharing Cultures: Disability and Visibility

A few new pieces

michelle — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 04:45:03 +0000

Here’s a few new small pieces I made while I was playing with sumi ink and mylar.