FLAT OUT: Jelly Fish Piano
Sarada Rauch

Oral tradition, including traditional epics, fairy tales and myths, is passed down as a broad formula. The storyteller improvises a great deal of the narrative and reinterprets the story by inserting their own perspectives and imagery. Sarada Rauch uses this same methodology of reinterpretation while making videos, treating them as oral tradition.

Jellyfish Piano is a reinterpretation of the mermaid, a cross culturally prevalent figure that has maintained its popularity in narratives since ancient times. In this video, a swimmer is transformed into a jellyfish. The underwater perspective of the camera strips her body of its human traits and transforms it into the essential organs and limbs of a jellyfish. The swimmer’s trailing skirt and legs form the greater part of this balletic jellyfish’s movement, whose gracefulness is punctuated by the notes her feet strike on the keyboard-like lanes of a public pool. The notes of the piano keys are played each time she touches one of them with her toes.

About the Artist
Sarada Rauch is a multimedia artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Rauch reinterprets traditional narratives using contemporary aesthetics by animating her sculpture and paintings with video. She received her BFA from San Francisco Art Institute and her MFA from Hunter College. Sarada has exhibited and performed at venues such as Museum of Contemporary Art (Miami), RH+ Gallery (Istanbul), Winkleman Gallery at Seven Art Fair (Miami), Platform Gallery (Seattle) and the RISD Museum (Providence). Rauch was also the recipient of the Tony Smith Award and the BBK Fellowship in Saxony.

saradarauch.com

FLAT OUT is a bi-weekly rotating video series curated by Nicole Bebout. For the series, new works by emerging and experimental artists from across the globe are displayed on a LCD screen mounted at the entrance of AC Institute.