loveisintheair-1

ARTIST STATEMENT

Antonio Cortez & Michael Layefsky, Love Is In The Air, Everywhere We Look Around, 2011,

one channel video streamed through a digital projector mounted on a robotic platform suspended from a balloon;

4 Chapters, 9:11 min total; 120” H x 60” L x 60” W

LOVE IS IN THE AIR, EVERYWHERE WE LOOK AROUND

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KEEPING AN EYE ON SURVEILLANCE | PAI

SAN FRANCISCO, CA | SEP. 10 - OCT. 22, 2011

THE CONCEPT

The installation juxtaposes Michael Layefsky’s images from his Aerial Photography series with images from Google Maps and Google Earth projected from the same state-of-the-art camera rig Layefsky uses to capture his images. Love is in the Air is about the eternal quest of human beings to view their surroundings from above, the technologies that we develop for that end and the fear that they instill. In this present era of intense security alertness, it is not uncommon to feel that Everywhere We Look Around... has been surveilled.

Michael Layefsky’s Aerial Photography

ONE CHANEL VIDEO, FOUR CHAPTERS

MICHAEL LAYEFSKY

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Most of us have an innate desire to fly. I believe this stems from our collective wish to view the world from an omniscient vantage point.

I’ve been taking photographs and flying kites for much of my life. Several years ago, I discovered that I could combine these interests and learned to fly a kite with a digital camera attached to the kite line. This enables me to take aerial photographs, satisfying an intense urge to view things from above. Earlier this year I started using Helium Balloons on days with no wind.

Though the vast majority of my aerial photographs have been taken in the Bay Area, I have also had the good fortune to have flown my kite and camera in the skies above several Asian and European countries.

My primary interest is to continue capturing images from the bird’s-eye perspective. I find it a compelling vantage point from which to view the world, at the same time familiar and exotic.

THE INSTALLATION

KEEPING AN EYE ON SURVEILLANCE @ PAI

Love Is In The Air, Everywhere We Look Around @ Keeping An Eye On Surveillance,

September 10 - October 22, 2011 @ PAI, San Francisco, CA

Keeping an Eye on Surveillance," takes a comprehensive look at societal surveillance in the "post-9-11" world. Over twenty artists, working in media ranging from painting and photography to new media, explore the ever-growing encroachment of surveillance enabled by technological advances such as Google Earth, Facebook, wire-tapping, and airport security technologies. "Big Brother" is now a virtual and real phenomenon.

As a concerned observer of the evolving landscape, curator Hanna Regev believes that an exhibition on surveillance is a fitting vehicle for probing serious questions about the proliferation of the many surveillance systems in use. The artists exhibiting in "Keeping an Eye on Surveillance" explore the blurring boundaries between public space and private life, the visible and invisible, and the observer and observed. The works probe concerns regarding community and individual safety and the problems surrounding public spaces that involve watching and being watched. The exhibition seeks to underscore the need to balance our longing for security with our dedication to a free and open society.

Curated by Hanna Regev

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