Performance
Laleh Khorramian and Shahzad Ismaily’s Atom Fables
Atom Fables was a new collaborative work by artist Laleh Khorramian and musician Shahzad Ismaily. Atom Fables featured a performative work of experimental film sequences by Khorramian set to live soundtracks by Ismaily. Improvising side by side, projected images informed and activated sound, combining recorded electronic compositions with live instruments such as melodica, guitar, handbells, and drums.
Ismaily has scored three of Khorramian’s recent animated films — Liuto Golis (which premiered at Ballroom Marfa in October 2010), Water Panics in the Sea (2011) and the movie in her Golis Galaxy sci-fi series. This was their first live performance. Over the course of two evenings of performance,they explored the disparate worlds of Khorramian’s paintings through both sound and vision.
This High Line Program was presented by Friends of the High Line in partnership with Ballroom Marfa as part of the High Line’s fall 2011 season of free and low-cost public programming for visitors of all ages.
Artisit Profiles
Laleh Khorramian
Khorramian, who is based in Brooklyn, is an artist who melds animation, digital media, and found footage with traditional artistic media, such as collages, monotypes, and drawing. In a vacillating process between macro and micro views of painted landscapes and incidental spaces, Khorramian explores discarded material and chance outcomes as a creative strategy for storytelling.
Shahzad Ismaily
Multi-instrumentalist Ismaily, also based in New York, has composed music for dance, theatre and the concert stage, as well as film, including the score for the critically acclaimed movie Frozen River, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. He performs with Marc Ribot, Bonnie Prince Billy, Laurie Anderson, Secret Chiefs 3, among others.
The High Line and Friends of the High Line
The High Line is a public park built on an historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side. It is owned by the City of New York, and maintained and operated by Friends of the High Line. Founded in 1999 by community residents, Friends of the High Line fought for the High Line’s preservation and transformation at a time when the historic structure was under the threat of demolition. It is now the non-profit conservancy working with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to make sure the High Line is maintained as an extraordinary public space for all visitors to enjoy. In addition to overseeing maintenance, operations, and public programming at the park, Friends of the High Line works to raise the essential private funds to support more than 90 percent of the park’s annual operating budget, and to advocate for the transformation of the High Line at the West Side Rail Yards, the third and final section of the historic structure.
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