Universal Studio Presents: The Loitering Presence of a Rational Actor

July 23 – August 5, 2012 163 Eldridge St. New York, NY. open daily: 3pm – 10pm

“Imagine a game with two actors, both accomplices in a crime. Each one is placed in a separate cell and both are given the option of cooperating or defecting. To determine the cause of their actions, the observing agent might try and analyze the goals or objectives, the alternatives, the consequences and choices. If both defect, they lose or gain very little, but not as much as the “cheated” actor whose cooperation is not returned. The actors sit and wait. Different methods may be used to tell this story or give an account of the event, whether true or fictitious. The observer sits and listens.”

The Loitering Presence of a Rational Actor is a two-week screening program featuring twelve artists working with film and video. A single work will be screened continuously for eight hours each day. Walk-in visitors will be able to sit and spend time viewing the work in its entirety from whatever point of entry. Textual support material will be available. Sometimes the artist will be present.

Participating Artists

Mauricio Arango, Johanna Billing, Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Tamar Guimarães, Raymond Taudin Chabot, Simon Gush, Edward Kihn, Wojciech Kosoma, Mark Lewis, collectif_fact, Annelore Schneider & Claude Piguet, Eduardo Williams

Organized by Mike Crane and the Automatic Moving Co.

Universal Studio Presents

Universal Studio Presents is a traveling program of film and video works. A different program is organized whenever a space is donated for the screening. The views expressed in this program are of the artists and organizers themselves and do not necessarily reflect those of the participating exhibition venues, their directors, or employees. This is an ongoing project directed by a group of artists, writers and filmmakers operating when convenient as the Automatic Moving Co.

For more information and schedule, please visit www.universal-studio.info