Bird Captures

January 3rd – 29th, 2015

Opening & Performance 1: Saturday, January 3rd, 6-9pm

Performance 2: Tuesday, January 13th, 6-9pm

Closing & Performance 3: Thursday, January 29th, 6-9pm

 

BT&C Gallery announces Bird Captures to open the gallery’s 2015 exhibition schedule. Bird Captures is a photography and sound installation comprised of two related projects:  Bird Photography (Attempts) 2004-2014 by Julian Montague and Flying Mobiles by violinist/composer David Adamczyk.

 

For a decade Julian Montague has been photographing birds without a telephoto lens or any other specialist equipment. Bird Photography (Attempts) 2004-2014

is an installation of 100 photographic prints each featuring the species name and the number of attempts (shots) made in the effort by Montague to document the bird in the wild. In some of the photographs, the artist is observing the birds from a great distance, in others, the bird is reacting to his presence. The series is both an attempt to document the fleeting quality of wildlife encounters and an exploration of the persistent human desire to take possession of animals through documentation, species identification, and domestication. This is the first time the images from this evolving project have been displayed en masse.

 

Musician David Adamczyk’s fascination with musical transcription of recordings of virtuosic playing styles of various world traditions combined with an interest in exploring the full sonic potential of his instrument, led him to begin transcribing real-world sounds for performance on the violin. Through these exercises the difference between original sound-source and the musical result of performing the transcriptions serve as the compositional substance. Flying Mobiles consists of a number of short modular works for violin that attempt to capture the complexities of birdcalls, calling upon unconventional modes of sound production and extreme virtuosity to emulate the increasingly uncommon songs of nature. Recordings of Flying Mobiles will play as part of the installation at BT&C Gallery and Adamczyk himself will perform live in the gallery on 1/3, 1/13, and 1/29 (6-9pm each evening).

 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Julian Montague is known for his photography, design and installation work. This is the second installation of Montague’s at BT&C Gallery. The first, In Ruins, opened in June 2014 and presented work that is an extension of Montague’s ongoing project entitled Secondary Occupants, which explores the relationship of insects and animals with architecture and, ultimately, how their observed behaviors conceptually relate to psychological, human models. Montague has exhibited throughout the Unites States, Canada, and Europe. In 2013 alone, Montague was featured in exhibitions in Buffalo, NY; New York, NY; Wichita, KS; Scottsdale, AZ; Metz, France (solo exhibition); and Berlin, Germany. His work is in the collections of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Burchfield Penney Arts Center, The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, and The Norton Museum of Art.

 

David Adamczyk is a versatile musician, composer, improviser, teacher and public-art advocate. He is interested in exploring the practice of public-space performance as an alternate mode of artistic expression. An active performer, Adamczyk recently performed his solo violin compositions in concert with multi-percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani and saxophonist Steve Baczkowski at Ashbury Hall, Buffalo. He was also featured on the video blog silosessions.com (http://silosessions.com/silo-sessions-dave-adamczyk.html). Musical groups include the improvisatory quartet “My Nada Brahma” with bandleader Ravi Padmanabha and “Shubbaluliuma,” an electric violins and drumkit trio.