Mediaworks

Mosca and the Meaning of Life

In lieu of an outside screening this week (week 3), Mediaworks is hosting visiting artists Christine Panushka and Beto Araiza and their performance of Mosca and the Meaning of Life, 7pm, Thursday, January 24th. Attendance at this event is required. Admission is free for Evergreen students. Here is an excerpt of the press release for the event. Look for an article about it in the Thursday Olympian.

Evergreen Expressions Presents Ground Breaking Evening
of Innovative Animation and Performance Art.

Mosca and the Meaning of Life, a ground breaking multi-media work in which an animated character is taken off of the screen and integrated into a live performance, will be the centerpiece of an evening of animation and performance art presented by award winning animator, Christine Panushka and performance artist, Beto Araiza at The Evergreen State College’s Experimental Theater on Thursday, January 24 at 7 pm.

This new work by Panushka and Araiza grew out of an experiment in multidisciplinary collaboration commissioned by the Pasadena arts organization NewTown to create and expand the definition and form of their respective disciplines. It was originally presented at The Autry National Center, in Los Angeles, in Oct. of 2006. While animation has in the past been integrated into dance and music performances, Mosca presents multiple characters interacting with a live performer. Explained Araiza, “In essence, are we all nothing more than common flies searching for that little piece of metaphorical feces on which to live out of our millisecond of existence in this life? And like the common fly don’t we too devour and then regurgitate our belief systems over and over again desperately hoping to discover any small semblance of a greater truth? What is life? What is existence? What is truth?

Currently a Professor in the animation department at University of Southern California Christine Panushka's animated films have won numerous awards at festivals throughout the world. Prior to that, she was Associate Director of Experimental Animation at Cal Arts. Her most recent project, commissioned by Absolut Vodka, brought 12 of the finest experimental animators in the world to over 750,000, via her Web Site, Absolut Panushka. In addition to her many artistic accomplishments, she is a tireless crusader for arts education for young people.

In addition to Mosca & The Meaning of Life, Araiza will be performing several performance art pieces from previous shows, “HIVato”, “Holy Wars” and from a new work “Biting The Pillow”. Panushka will present several additional animations pieces and the evening will close with a Question and Answer period.