What Does It Mean? 2014

Danny Bracken
Artists in Residence: September 13, 2014 – May 31, 2015
Materials
digital audio, amplifier, speakers, subwoofers

Bracken examines the tenuous relationship between the physical and digital worlds through a number of installations that use water stone and soil interwoven with...

Description

Bracken examines the tenuous relationship between the physical and digital worlds through a number of installations that use water, stone and soil interwoven with video projections, digital sound and a live video feed. Bracken blurs the lines between these two realms.

The works are subtly interactive, shifting as one’s perspective changes, altering its appearance with each glance. The installations expose the limits and imperfections of both realities, questioning our tendency to glorify and idealize our conceptions of the new and old.

About the Artist

Danny Bracken’s creative practice explores interactions between video, sound, and physical space, ranging from immersive, multi-sensory installations to small-scale sculptures. Born into a family of musicians, sound occupies a central role in his work; finding a place in film scores, installations, and stand-alone recordings. At the heart of these investigations lies an interest in the relationship between humans, the natural world, and technology. Throughout the work he explores the ways in which technology has shifted how we perceive and experience the people and places that surround us. Bracken’s music further extends this dialogue, examining the tenuous balance between digital possibility and human impression, creating in a context that is constantly shifting between analog and digital realms.

After completing a visual arts degree in 2005, Bracken joined the Chicago-based music collective Anathallo. The group toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Japan with over 500 performances including appearances at Lollapalooza, Coachella, among others. In 2014 he was awarded an Artist Opportunity Grant to support a residency at La Fragua, in Belalcazar, Spain. In early 2015 he mounted his first solo exhibition in partnership with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. He has composed music for film and television, most notably for the documentary Blood Brother, a 2013 Sundance Festival award winner.