ART AND THE PHOTOBOOTH

Stephan Koplowitz

From the Photomaton gallery guide:

The time and space relationship that photo booth technology creates is something that fascinates Stephan Koplowitz. "There is a finite amount of space within the booth and a predetermined amount of time between each photo frame. I never cut my photobooth strips for I feel that it is important to main- tain the integrity of the process. I am most interested in creating the illusion of movement with my composite images rather than photo-mosaics or pat- terns. I find the reconstruction of the human anatomy through the use of close- ups of body parts and the depiction of a body in motion to be challenging. Every visual idea poses a different physical challenge requiring a rehearsal. Each work is a collection of movements around a fixed aperture point as well as a recording of these actions over a period of time. The challenges of both time and space within the photobooth are a logical extension of my choreography."

Stephan Koplowitz has a background in dance, music, and visual art. His choreography has been produced by Dance Theatre Workshop, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Celebrate Brooklyn, the Field at Pineapple and Brooklyn Dance Consortium. He will be part of Dance Theatre Workshop's Spring Season in 1988. He has composed music for both dance and film, most recently for "Ready, Willing and Able." His photobooth work has been exhibited in a one-person show entitled "Spatial Reconstructions" in the DTW Gallery and in group shows in New York City and Brooklyn. He recently completed a 12-foot by 13-foot xerox piece which served as a backdrop for his choreography. In October of this year, Mr. Koplowitz premiered a special work for forty performers in the three large Vanderbillt windows of Grand Central Station. He began doing photobooth work in 1982, and has used photobooths in Grand Junction, Colorado; Picadilly Circus in London; next to Nathan's on Coney Island; and in Woolworth's behind Lincoln Center. Mr. Koplowitz has a B.A. in Music from Wesleyan University, Ct. and an M.F.A. in Choreography from the University of Utah. He is currently directing the dance program at the Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights.



Liberty Rambo (1986) © Stephan Koplowitz

Contributed by Tim