Desert Resonator, 2011. Sonic sculpture permanently installed at the CLUI Desert Research Station, Hinkley CA. Deborah Stratman and Steven Badgett.

Framing lines of sight is an unavoidable part of the filmmaking practice. We encircle the gaze with a vectored view and we necessarily remove with every look, editing most of the world out in order to arrive at a shot.  Considering the phenomenological power relationships that are native to this simple act are a central part of Stratman's practice.  Equally central have been a commitment to landscape, infrastructure, socio-political histories and ways of knowing.

The talk will highlight resonances between some of Stratman’s recent (and future) projects and that of Nancy Holt.  In particular, the recent public installations “Desert Resonator” and “Augural Pair,” (collaborations with artist Steven Badgett), and the in-progress “Sinkholes” project. Nancy Holt: Sightlines will be on view at the Graham Foundation from October 7 through December 17, 2011.

Deborah Stratman is a Chicago-based artist and filmmaker interested in landscapes and systems. Her films, rather than telling stories, pose a series of problems - and through their at times ambiguous nature, allow for a complicated reading of the questions being asked. Many of her films point to the relationships between physical environments and the very human struggles for power, ownership, mastery and control that are played out on the land. Most recently, they have questioned elemental historical narratives about freedom, expansion, security, and the regulation of space. Stratman works in multiple mediums, including photography, sound, drawing and sculpture. She has exhibited internationally at venues including the Whitney Biennial, MoMA, the Pompidou, Hammer Museum and any international film festivals including Sundance, the Viennale, Ann Arbor and Rotterdam. She is the recipient of Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships and she currently teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

For more information on the exhibition, Nancy Holt: Sightlines, click here.