David K. Ross: The Traces of Lost Facts

Thursday, September 8, 2016 – Friday, September 9, 2016
7:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Rice Cinema Film Auditorium, Rice Media Center
Rice University
6100 Main St
Houston, Texas, USA
The Traces of Lost Facts

In collaboration with the Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts exhibit of Canadian artist David K. Ross’s work, we present a program of his short films for two nights. On September 8, there will be a reception starting at 5:30. On Friday, September 9, there will be a Q and A following the films. This event is free.

In addition to a program of recent moving image works to be screened in the Rice Cinema on September 8th and 9th, 2016, Montréal artist David K Ross will present an installation The Traces of Lost Facts in the Rice Media Center’s main gallery space. In the installation visitors will utilize surveyor’s transits to visually “reconstruct” for themselves the making of one of Ross’s films, Théodolitique (2015). Taking its title from the earliest known (511 AD) written description of surveying actives, The Traces of Lost Facts presents a sample of the research materials generated by David K. Ross in the four-year long process of making Théodolitique, a film which draws together the ancient science of land surveying and the contemporary practices of film making.

For the installation, gallery walls are lined with the ‘traces’ that allowed the artist’s film to take shape: location photographs, to-do lists, production budgets, equipment rental agreements, crew invoices, storyboard sketches and film rushes. Calling attention to the film’s construction (it was shot using customized surveying equipment), all the material presented in the installation will be mounted 16 feet from the floor on Rice Media Center’s walls, making these archival materials viewable only through a series of surveyor’s transits placed throughout the various mezzanines in the building.

The films to be included in the September 8th and 9th program at Rice Cinema are:

Théodolitique (2015)
15:40 mins
35mm + CinemaDNG/ DCP

The European Rooms (2014)
27:00 mins
CinemaDNG/ DCP

Trailer (2013)
2:30 mins
S16mm / DCP

Le Phare (2012)
13:20 mins
S16mm / DCP

Exhibit closing: Oct. 15, 2016

On view Sept 8 – Oct 15
from 11 am – 5 pm M-F
Closed Saturday & Sunday

Sponsored by the Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts & The Office of the Dean of Humanities