Haggerty Museum of Art presents

Eve Sussman: 89 Seconds at Alcazar
February 18 - April 24

(MILWAUKEE) The Haggerty Museum of Art will present "Eve Sussman: 89 Seconds at Alcazar" February 18 through April 24, 2004. The exhibition includes Sussman's 12 minute High Definition video installation 89 Seconds at Alcazar and video stills from the production. The artist will give a gallery talk on February 18 at 6 p.m. A reception will follow at 7 p.m.

89 Seconds at Alcazar is a restageing of Diego Velasquez's masterpiece, Las Meninas, as a video. Sussman's video premiered at the 2004 Whitney Biennial, March - May 2004, and is currently showing at the newly opened Museum of Modern Art, in New York. This new project, by the artist, brings Velásquez's 1658 painting Las Meninas to life in High Definition video. The video installation captures the action leading up to and immediately following the events in the Spanish court painter's masterwork.

89 Seconds at Alcazar was recorded over four days in May of 2003, in a garage studio space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The piece shows actors in full period costume, designed by Karen Young, on a set that reproduces the room in the painting. It shows the artist Velasquez standing, in the painting, at his easel, with members of the royal household dispersed throughout the painting. "Sussman's 89 Seconds at Alcazar brings to life a special moment in art history. It continues the Haggerty's on-going commitment to showing new work in media arts," says Curtis Carter, Director of the Haggerty Museum of Art.

A 360 degree Steadicam was used to film the entire scene of the salon of the Palace of the Hapsburgs, King Philip IV and his wife Mariana of Austria, as performed by actors Jeff Wood (Philip) and Helen Pickett (Mariana). The camera explores the action taking place beyond the canvas as well as the image in the painting.

Sussman's 89 Seconds at Alcazar represents a variation on Velasquez's theme. The artists intent is to use Las Meninas as a point of departure for improvisation and artistic revisioning. She and choreographer Claudia de Serpa collaborated with the actors to stage the action in the room. Each gesture in the video recreates the narrative, and the original gestures, of Velásquez's painting. She believes that every moment in 89 seconds…encapsulates an aspect of the painting.

Sussman views Las Meninas as the seminal cinema verité artwork, a cinematic genre where colloquial body language speaks louder than words.' Sussman refers to the work as cinema verité, costume choreography. "My work originates from a fascination with simple gestures and casual expressions, which I observe, capture, and stage in videos, films, installations, and photographs," Sussman explains.

Sussman was born in London in 1961 and now works in New York. Her work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American art both in New York, and in galleries in England, France, Germany, Poland, and Turkey.

Collaborating artists include: Karen Young (Martha Graham Co.,Matthew Barney et al); Claudia de Serpa (dancer with Sasha Waltz Co. at the Schaubühne, Berlin); composer - Jonathan Bepler (the Cremaster Cycle); Rebecca Graves - Master Scenic Artist; Helen Pickett - (veteran of the Frankfurt Ballet, choreographic consultant for the Wooster Group); Jeff Wood, (Outstanding Actor Goodman Critic's Choice Award); Sofie Zamchick as the Infanta Margarita (Nickelodeon, Cremaster 3); Walter Sipser as Diego Velázquez; Erin Kaleel and Andrea Huelse as the Meninas; Annette Previti as the Widow; Richard Tabnik as Niento; Nesbitt Blaisdell as the Guardadamas (Mothman Prophecies); and Peter Dinklage in the role of Mari-Barbola (The Dwarf) (currently starring in The Station Agent).

The Haggerty Museum of Art is located at North 13th St. and West Clybourn Avenue on the campus of Marquette University. Museum hours are Monday - Wednesday, Friday - Saturday, 10 am-4:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 am-8 p.m.; and Sunday, noon-5 p.m.. Free parking is available in the Mary B. Finnigan Parking Lot (enter on 11th St. through Marquette Lot J). For more information on the Haggerty Museum call (414) 288-1669.