ARTIST STATEMENT Digital media theory promotes the utopian possibilities of new systems of technology, as if novelty and progress are universal values. What value lies in the death of a medium? I am not interested in being the first to try an idea, but the last to make sure that the idea is not still valid. My work explores and resurrects dying mediums—from film to certain types of architecture—in the form of installations, films, and GPS projects. These mediums are only here for a little while longer and I make art with them to preserve them, even though I know this effort is ultimately futile. BIOGRAPHY Elizabeth Skadden’s past work includes short documentaries About DIY bands and personal documentaries About people she is close to. Her films have screened in different film festivals including Sundance, SXSW, and Edinburgh. Since coming to RISD she has explored forgotten spaces and mediums within America and Europe. She is a big fan of film loops and questioning the odd beast of city planning. Not content to take the world as it is prepared for us by corporations and the government, she pushes further to find: what once stood in that vacant lot (Christ Episcopal Church Resurrection), where the Steenbeck is still in use (Steenbeck Loops), and what kind of 16mm film fills a space the best (Physical Film Loop). She is a winner of the RISD Awards of Excellence and curator of “Lapse of Time” at the Gelman Gallery at the Chace Center. Her all-female band Finally Punk has just released an album and is planning two tours for 2009. CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH RESURRECTION http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCTeSaaIsk4 After 20 years of standing empty, Christ Episcopal Church was bulldozed in 2005, resulting in a vacant lot. I interviewed Lou Fancy About his experiences exploring the empty and decaying church; and using GPS technologies, resurrected the building as Fancy had explored it. Visitors entering the space were given headphones attached to GPS systems. As they walked in the empty space, Lou’s voice guided them through the rooms of the abandoned church. Although they saw trash and pebbles, the audio shows them a new layer of time, one of the beauty of the wreck and ruin of an old church. STEENBECK LOOP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-RHTUfOVVM In the FAV department of RISD there are two Steenbeck editing rooms that are mirrors of each other. They are the same size and organized so the editing Steenbecks each face the opposite wall from each other. A film loop connects these two spaces, running from one Steenbeck, out of the window, into the window of the adjoining room, onto the Steenbeck of that room, then out into the hall and back into the first room. As the film passes over the wall in between the two windows, it is scratched, eventually becoming so scratched that it will no longer have any image on it. The image on the film, a time-lapse portrait of an abandoned Amtrak building slowly moves through light to dark and fades in and out with the light leak of the end of a film exposed to light. Viewers see the images through the screens of the Steenbecks and must enter the space inside of the loop of film. The loop of film becomes a stand-in for the building that is seen and yet its decay parallels the decay of the uncared for building. PHYSICAL FILM LOOP IN PROGRESS What happens when a film loop has a physical presence instead of simply transferring the information on its surface? Utilizing slug film, film that is not wanted by other people, Physical Film Loop answers this question.