Janet Biggs-Video-art Performance

"Enemy of the Good" by Janet Biggs
Video-art Performance (click image to enlarge)
Miami Basel Art Fair
December 7, 2007
Sponsors:Claire Oliver Gallery and Photo Miami

Janet Biggs's Miami Performance Location: NW 31st. and North Miami Avenue Sponsors: Claire Oliver Gallery

Enemy of the Good by Janet Biggs tests the boundaries of gravity and personal limits and by extension the boundaries of control and free will.

Video-artist Janet Biggs's website

Janet Biggs merges the fierce athleticism and pageantry of jumping horses with the soulful chords of a cellist and the pounding percussion of a solo pianist against a landscape of large-scale video projections in her new multi-media performance Enemy of the Good.
With its title taken from the Voltaire quote, the perfect is the enemy of the good, Biggs’ performance examines the driving desire to transcend constraints and the impossible search for perfection. With nods to Busby Berkeley’s lavish musicals, the photographs of Muybridge, and referencing Santiago Calatrava’s soaring architecture, Biggs explores the isolation and obsession required to make something difficult appear effortless and transcendent.

The piece opens with a single riderless horse trotting a circle in front of the audience. Accompanied by William Martina’s haunting cello, projected video images of athletes, animals, and musicians reveal the repetition, intensity, and obsession required of those reaching for perfection. The horse performs a synchronized pattern of interweaving circles, ending with the riderless horse leaping over rails in front of the video screens.
The video images change to ethereal, weightless swimmers as Andres Rodriguez on his grand prix champion horse gallops into the foreground, powerfully jumping the fences that block their path. The video projections are streaked with their shadows. A light comes up on concert pianist, Jose Luis Hernandez-Estrada, who dives into an intense solo. The piece builds to a crescendo as the soloist flies up and down the keys and the horse soars over one of the video projection screens.

Visual artist/DIRECTOR:Janet Biggs

Janet Biggs lives and works in New York City. Her videos, video installations, and performances, condensed yet epic, have led her to capture such events as horses galloping on treadmills, Olympic synchronized swimmers in attempts to defy gravity, and icebergs trapped in a lagoon. Her work has been exhibited, among other institutions, at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, New York; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York; Gibbes Museum of Art, South Carolina; Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Rhode Island; Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center, Ohio; Vantaa Art Museum, Finland; Linkopings Konsthall, Passagen, Sweden; Charlottenborg Exhibition Hall, Denmark; and the Oberosterreichisches Landesmuseum, Austria; and Pigorini Museum, Italy. Biggs is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and Anonymous Was a Woman Award. Her work is in public collections including the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; Gibbes Museum of Art, South Carolina; and the New Britain Museum of Art, Connecticut. Her projects have received support from Sony Electronics Inc, Panasonic, Hermés of Paris, and the Wexner Center Media Arts Program. Janet Biggs is represented by Claire Oliver Gallery in New York, New York and Solomon Projects in Atlanta, Georgia.

Cellist/Composer: William Martina

Will Martina has performed throughout the world and on every continent. Born in Australia and educated in London, Will was one of the last cellists to study with the late William Pleeth (Jacqueline Du Pre's teacher).
William has resided in New York since early 2006, and during his short time there he has quickly established himself as an in-demand instrumentalist, performing and collaborating across a wide range of styles ranging from Jazz, to Afropop, Rock, Cabaret, and of course, Classical. He was also recently named as the cellist-in-residence at World Wide Audio, a post-production studio in New York City where he will devise, and contribute to, the soundtracks of both movies and television shows.
He has performed at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival and for many years has been associated with the Banff Center for the Arts in Alberta, Canada, both as a student and as an instructor. During this period, as well as teaching, he devised an improvised score for a Native American dance piece (Bones: An Aboriginal Dance Opera), was a collaborative artist during the Summer Keyboard Festival, and performed as soloist with the Banff Summer Festival Orchestra.
Will has previously collaborated with Janet Biggs on her work Airs Above the Ground (composing, arranging, and recording the accompanying music). He is grateful for the opportunity to continue the collaboration further by contributing to Enemy of the Good.

Pianist/Composer: Jose Luis Hernandez-Estrada

Pianist and composer Jose Luis Hernandez-Estrada (1983- ), laureatee of the 2006 JKHodges Contemporary Piano Competition, has captivated audiences and critics alike with energetic and sophisticated performances in recital and as soloist with orchestra. The Mexican press describes him as a "musician of intense musical temperament." The Fürther Nachrichten, calls him "a brilliant young pianist".
An artist with a deep commitment to the music profession, since making his formal debut at age ten with the Tamaulipas State Symphony Orchestra (Mexico), he has performed to critical acclaim in Germany, Spain, United States, Puerto Rico, Norway, and throughout Mexico.
Hernandez-Estrada holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance (Cum Laude) from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth and a Postgraduate Diploma from the Conservatori del Liceu of Barcelona, Spain.
A respected music educator, he has produced and implemented numerous pedagogical programs in collaboration with organizations such as the Austin Chamber Music Center and the Van Cliburn Foundation. Hernandez-Estrada is the founder and artistic director of the Festival International de Piano Reynosa (Mexico), an annual cultural event which presents some of the most outstanding young pianists of their generation through solo recitals, lectures, and educational concerts.

Equestrian: Andres Rodriguez

Andres Rodriguez’ talent was recognized early on. From the beginning of his competition career, at 12 years old, he was a member of the Champion Team at the World FEI Children’s competition, and continued on to win numerous international championships throughout South America. In 2000, he was the Champion Junior Rider at the National Championship in Venezuela, but knew the road would not end there. In 2002, Andres began a journey that would lead him to spend the next four years in Europe, training with the world champions, Nelson and Rodrigo Pessoa. His first years out of Juniors, he was placing in the top ribbons and winning grand prix competitions in France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Turkey and Holland. In 2005 at 21 years old, he rode for the Silver Medal Team in the Nations’ Cup Competition in Bogota, Colombia.
Andres’ passion and respect for the horses carries through on all levels of the delicate care and preparation necessary to achieve success.

Directions to the performance @ Photo Miami

From Miami Beach Travel South on Collins Avenue. Turn right onto 5th Street / FL_A1A West which becomes US-41 West / Macarthur CSWY which becomes I-395West. Merge onto I-95 North via Exit 1B toward Ft. Lauderdale. Follow directions from I-95 below.
From I-95 Take I-95 North to EXIT 4B merge onto I-195 East / FL-112 East toward Miami Beach. Take Exit 2A to North Miami Avenue. Turn right onto North Miami Avenue. Photo Miami is on corner of North Miami Avenue and North West 31st Street.