Quayola at EMPAC

He goes simply by the name of Quayola but his art is anything but simple. He's what you'd call a multimedia artist slash graphic designer slash director. One of his most profound video installations is on display this weekend in Troy at EMPAC, the Experimental Performance Center on the RPI campus.

EMPAC was chosen to showcase the nation's first Adventures in Motion Festival called onedotzero. The festival includes an array of installations, live performances and abstract films.

Inside theater number 2 is a brilliant generative and keyframe-animated video that hangs upside down from 3 massive screens suspended from the ceiling. The room is pitch black and local musician Jesse Stiles produces a music track to enhance the experience. Don't bother standing for 30 minutes while the video runs, rather save your neck and lie on the floor.

You'll recognize the glorious images as the interior of the Church of the Gesù in Rome, Italy. Quayola blends video of the most popular ceiling fresco called the Triumph of the Name of Jesus with layers of erupting triangles that look more like shards of broken glass. The triangles appear to morph through gold leaf pillars and angelic imagery, both real and abstract and so convincing it's hard to tell the difference.

The piece is aptly called Strata #1, possibly for the devotional painting of Santa Maria della Strada that hangs in the Gesù.

It's a real honor, a treasure, to showcase multimedia magic of this quality in our own backyard. Take advantage of the remaining premiere by visiting EMPAC today.