Robert Ladislas Derr, Still from Void, June 2004/reedited 2006, Eight channel split screen video, color, sound, 50 minutes, 24 seconds, Copyright and courtesy of the artist

IMAGE CREDIT: Robert Ladislas Derr, Still from Void, June 2004/reedited 2006, Eight channel split screen video, color, sound, 50 minutes, 24 seconds, Copyright and courtesy of the artist

Robert Ladislas Derr
(Born 1970, Cincinnati, OH; Lives Columbus, OH)
Nominated by Anita Douthat

Combining photography and video, several of Robert Ladislas Derr's installations are derived through "psychogeographical" walk performances. Shown on one monitor, the four pairs of videos from Void create an arrhythmic quality reflecting his pedestrian experience. Using a mathematical algorithm, the ink jet print of video still sequences captures two decisive moments from the four pairs of videos.

Derr is a 2002 MFA graduate of Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, RI) and holds a BFA from the Art Academy of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH). The recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, Derr has staged performances and shown worldwide at such venues as the Irish Film Institute (Dublin, Ireland), DiVA Festival (New York, NY), and Art Interactive (Cambridge, MA). A participant in the prestigious Photography Institute, National Graduate Seminar (1994), Derr is currently an Assistant Professor of Photography at The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH).

Artist Statement

Void is an eight-channel video and photographic installation that embodies my peripatetic performance through the streets of Dublin, Ireland for the ReJoyce Dublin 2004 Festival. For four days, I walked from Mountjoy Square to the intersection of Lower Mount Street and Lansdowne Road between 2:40 pm and 4:00 pm, retracing the sites in chapter 10, "Wandering Rocks" in Ulysses. As I performed, I wore two video cameras harnessed to my body capturing the views around my being. Walking in this unfamiliar city, I metaphorically represented Mr. Bloom, who wandered through Dublin without a homeland, caught between a political and religious dichotomy. In addition, two rows of photographic video still sequences replicate particulars from the four pairs of videos, capturing a decisive moment from both my front and back with the front views above the back views. The stills allow for an indexical reading of the video documentation. Recording the same route for four consecutive days shows the similitude of daily life.

Anita Douthat

(Born 1950, Cincinnati, OH, Lives Alexandria, KY)

Anita Douthat's involvement with the PRC began in March 1985, when she was invited to be the gallery's first Curator and create an exhibition program for the newly-renovated space at 602 Commonwealth Avenue. While at the PRC, she was responsible for bringing work by John Baldessari, Alfredo Jarr, Louise Lawler, and others to the center. Douthat resigned from the PRC seven years later to pursue her own artwork.

A graduate of the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago, IL) and the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM), Douthat is fascinated by scientific photography and has made photograms for over 20 years. In 1992, she received a photography fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has been exhibited at the Columbus Museum of Art (Columbia, OH), Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO), and Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago, IL), among others. Douthat began working at the Carl Solway Gallery (Cincinnati, OH) as registrar, and now is the gallery's Associate Director.

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Artist Statement

Anita Douthat