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Hi everyone,
I've enjoyed following the very interesting discussions that have appeared
here.... I made a few contributions a while ago, but I've been silent
pretty much since then, pretty much due to some shyness....
Anyway, here's my bio as well as a statement about my work.
Best wishes,
Joel
JOEL TAUBER
WORK DESCRIPTION & BIO
http://joeltauber.com
Joel Tauber’s practice has led him through a series of rigorous personal
investigations about mysticism, ethics, and the environment - that are
poetic and often quixotic. These research projects are presented as
installations and films that are structured in ways that are designed to
raise questions and offer cultural critiques in non-didactic ways. Tauber
spent two years trying to achieve enlightenment outside the confines of
organized religion by inserting himself into holes in the ground. He spent
another two years researching flight as a metaphysical tool and applying
that research to his own pursuit of flight. After unsuccessfully jumping
off rocks while trying different mental and flapping strategies, Tauber
managed to achieve his dream, flying 150 feet into the air for an hour and
a half in a bagpipe-and-balloon-powered flying machine that he had
constructed. Excited by the idea that music had helped him fly, Tauber
spent the next couple of years exploring the ocean while scuba diving and
translating his movements into music; this project culminated in a
3-channel video installation-cum-disco. The following five years were
devoted to protecting and celebrating a forlorn and lonely sycamore tree
that was stuck in a giant parking lot. Tauber illegally installed (with a
jackhammer) a metal fence around the tree; built giant earrings for the
tree to celebrate its beauty; convinced the City to remove 400 square feet
of asphalt around the tree and to protect it permanently with a ring of
boulders; and planted 200 “tree baby” offspring throughout Southern
California. “Sick-Amour” was presented as a 12-channel video tree
sculpture as well as a documentary film/love story. His most recent
project – “Pumping” - is a meditation on the birth of Los Angeles and how
the Southern Pacific Railroad commandeered the City and exploited the oil
and water resources in the region. “Pumping” is both a short experimental
film and an installation comprised of 3 video projections, 80 feet of train
tracks, a giant metal “filmstrip”, 11 photographs, and a handcar sculpture.
Joel Tauber received his MFA in art from Art Center College of Design and
his BA in art history and sculpture from Yale University. Tauber is an
assistant professor of art at Wake Forest University, where he is
developing their video art program. His work has been shown in solo art
exhibitions at a number of locations, including Susanne Vielmetter Los
Angeles Projects in LA and Galerie Adamski in Berlin as well as Aachen,
Germany. He has been included in numerous group art exhibitions including
the 2004 and 2008 California Biennials at the Orange County Museum of Art;
"The Gravity in Art" at the De Appel Centre For Contemporary Art in
Amsterdam; and "Still Things Fall From the Sky" at the California Museum of
Photography. Film Festivals include the Sedona International Film Festival,
San Francisco Documentary Festival, and the Downtown Film Festival - Los
Angeles, where his movie, “Sick-Amour”, was awarded “Best Green Film.”
Tauber won the 2007 Contemporary Collectors of Orange County Fellowship and
the 2007-2008 CalArts / Alpert Ucross Residency Prize for Visual Arts. His
project “Sick-Amour” was shortlisted for a 2011 International Green Award.
Tauber’s work has been featured in numerous media outlets, including
National Public Radio, Deutsche Welle / Deutschlandfunk radio, NBC local
news, the Ovation Network, Swedish Television, ArtReview Magazine, The
Design Magazine, ArtWeek, artUS Magazine, The Pasadena Star News, and The
Los Angeles Times.
--
Joel Tauber
Assistant Professor of Art
Video Art
Wake Forest University
http://joeltauber.com
joeltau...@gmail.com
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