TED blog feature

http://blog.ted.com/2014/01/19/miwa-matreyek-newest-surreal-performance/

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10 Beautiful Sundance Films

I am one of the top ten list of beautiful films at SUndance on 

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1. THIS WORLD MADE ITSELF: MYTH AND INFRASTRUCTURE OF LUCID DREAMING

Part film, part live performance art, this trilogy, by animator/performance artist Miwa Matreyek, is a breathtakingly beautiful exploration of inner and outer worlds. We see Matreyek’s body move, in live silhouette as she interacts with her own exquisitely rendered animations. 

Matreyek plays with the concept of lucid dreaming as the viewer is taken on a fantasy trip through time and space, as she goes diving deep into the sea, soaring up into the stars, floating upon flowered fields, swirling in an electric soup, and simply interacting with her cat as she rustles up some dinner in her humble kitchen.

The artist creates and is created by the world. With delicate poetry and powerful visions, this work is one we will never forget.

 

Cast and Credits:

Director: Miwa Matreyek

Music: Flying Lotus, Eric Lindley (aka Careful), Mileece, Anna Oxygen, Miwa Matreyek, Caroline, Mileece, Mirah

Principal Cast: Miwa Matreyek


Animation Sketchbook - just arrived!

The book is even more amazing then I had imagined - sososo full of beautiful drawings and interesting notes that give insight to various animator's processes. 

thank you Laura Heit, I am so honored to be a part of this book!

I only wish I was better at drawing...

 

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Venu Magazine/ISEA2012

Venu Magazine Cover Article about ISEA 2012 in Albuquerque (page 50-54)

"Although a concert by Laurie Anderson was clearly the headliner, Miwa Matreyek's performance, Myth and Infrastructure was a highlight for many. Matreyek's work is an enchanting blend of animation and live performance; one of the few digital artists who is able to keep a strong element of human presence in her work."

 

 

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Scholar & Feminist Online/New Frontiers

Curating "Physical Theater" for Sundance's New Frontier, by Roya Rastegar

"Lorde’s theory of the erotic as “a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feeling” resonates with how Matreyek articulates the distinction between the meaning made from her body’s performance and another’s body.

I am both me and anonymous. If I put someone else in my videos or as a performer, I feel like I have to deal with a lot more about that person’s gender, history, age, appearance, physical presence and movement … and that changes my work … my body is the most direct [route] from imagination to reality.

Bringing the specificity of one’s own body to bear on what and how one knows, the erotic is a crucial part of how Matreyek conceptualizes her artistic work and practice."

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LA Times/Under Polaris

Cloud Eye Control joins the traditional and futuristic

"'They are truly exemplary in their interdisciplinary approach to finding a new way to tell a story,' Murphy says. "Their blend of original music and thoughtful theatrical elements is unique." 

REDCAT decided to co-commission a full-length work, along with the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. The project got a kick-start when Portland philanthropist Leslie B. Durst offered to fund a three-month residency for Cloud Eye Control in her city. She stipulated that the work be related to the North Pole, because of her personal affinity for polar bears."

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LAist/Under Polaris

LAist​​ review

"Cloud Eye Control's latest multimedia performance piece, Under Polaris opened Wednesday night at REDCAT and plays throughout this weekend.

Under Polaris tells a story of woman (performed by Anna Oxygen) who embarks on an Arctic journey to preserve humanity. Her journey is wrought with challenges -- from the extreme ice elements to her own nadir of self-doubt. As the woman encounters animal spirits, she crosses the many symbolic thresholds.

Cloud Eye Control is an LA-based performance collective with a founding core group of Miwa Matreyek, Anna Oxygen and Chi-wang Yang. The group integrates animation, experimental theatre, pop music and puppetry.

Under Polaris is instantly compelling on several levels. Technically, the piece is visually stunning; the projected animated screens and overall art direction combine to make an environment that is both surreal and hallucinatory. The music, from the atmospheric electronic textures to the opera and overtures, is not at all just background incidental music but an integral and evocative thread of the piece’s fabric. The narrative carries mythic symbolism that suggests some of Joseph Campbell’s work on the hero’s journey. The woman in the story interacts with animal spirit guides and also transforms into a creature, which is an archetype seen in many myths. Under Polaris also suggests the balance of nature and man; when the lead woman crosses thresholds, the audience makes that journey into the world of dreaming and the unconsciousness.

Overall, the combined production of Under Polaris is impressive and innovative. Besides being technically breathtaking at times, the piece is humorous and accessible, which only augments the magical playfulness of the performance.

Questing for a fantastic multimedia and multidimensional performance journey? Cloud Eye Control’s Under Polaris will transport you there."

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NPN/Under Polaris

NPN article about funding Under Polaris

​​"The creative team of director Chi-wang Yang, video animator/media artist Miwa Matreyek, and writer/vocalist Anna Oxygen form an interdisciplinary performance collective known as Cloud Eye Control. Based in Los Angeles, they create sharp, playful, media-driven theater that is a combination of live performance, animated cinema and electronic music."

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LA Times Blog/ RADAR LA

LA Times Blog

​"Shadow and light commingle with wordless grace in "Ground to Cloud" and "Myth and Infrastructure," part of the Radar LA Festival. A juxtaposition of simple Expressionist techniques and highly sophisticated Postmodern animation, this double bill conveys an impressively hypnotic range of aesthetic frissons.

And "Myth and Infrastructure," in which multimedia artist Miwa Matreyek turns her silhouetted self into a virtual Mobius strip for a breathtaking array of variegated animation styles, is magical. The sheer breadth of the imagery — recurring skylines, miniature beings, self-lighting birthday cakes, unfolding seascapes, ad infinitum — amid ever-changing nimbuses, helixes and more, is unlike anything you've seen before. If this were a museum of contemporary art, Matreyek would merit a permanent wing. Avant-garde devotees should devour both pieces. — David C. Nichols"

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Portland Mercury/TBA fest

Portland Mercury

"Watching Miwa Matreyek’s videos feels magical. The good kind of magic—not stoner magic, but the sincere, spectacular, nature and kid kind of magic. Matreyek (who studied animation at CalArts) paints, draws, and builds gorgeous animation scenes set to music from folks like Mirah and Anna Oxygen. Then, she creates high-tech shadow puppet shows, stepping in front of her video projector to incorporate her own body into computer animations. The effect is a beautiful visual collage of imagery interacting with her shape. SARAH MIRK"
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