Bridal Shower, 2013
sound: Nightcore Girl
courtesy Steve Turner Contemporary, LA

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Los Angeles-based artist PETRA CORTRIGHT was one of five artists selected to create a work this year for Frieze Film, and thus also to benefit from a production residency at EMPAC (The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center).

I never had a residency or a studio before. It was really insane nice. The studio was massive and soundproof. I was blasting music at 4am ungodly loud and nobody could hear. I had 24/7 access. This place is stupid for technology. You can have anything you want! I requested nothing. They have never had someone who requested nothing. They got so nervous because I just showed up with my Thinkpad and a webcam and was like, oh I’m good, thanks. They were like, don’t you need some fucking shit or something? – PETRA CORTRIGHT in conversation with MARINA GALPERINA for animal new york

Produced in August 2013 during her residency, PETRA CORTRIGHT‘s Bridal Shower is a self-portrait video where everything is done at once: it is filmed on a webcam and the directing, the editing and the post-production are all happening at once. Like for her previous works, the video – which has a mesmerizing low-resolution aesthetic thanks to animation effects and filters – raises questions about the nature of performance, the experience of watching and how digital networks have not only transformed our societal structure, but also how they have re-shaped our internal selves. This work has been shown at Frieze London and broadcast on Channel 4 television.

Good news: ✖✗✘ BLank BLANk bLANk •・∘ PETRA‘s new solo exhibition opens at Steve Turner Contemporary gallery, Los Angeles on Saturday, November 9th and will feature two new videos created during her summer residency.

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