Stephen Vitiello – Light Reading(s)
WORK
Light Reading(s)
Perhaps best described as the sonification of a visual experience, Light Reading(s) was created by using small, hand-held photocells (cells that vary the flow of electric current according to the amount of light falling on them) to amplify light frequencies from the lights in the artist’s studio and recording rig. The varying currents of light are fed into a small analog circuit, which translates the photocell information into musical form. The corresponding video, recorded by a hand-held micro-camera, consists of footage of the abstract light sources that generate the sound.
BIO
Stephen Vitiello (b. 1964, New York City)
Recent solo exhibitions include All Those Vanished Engines, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA (2011-2016); A Bell For Every Minute, The High Line, NYC (2010-2011); More Songs About Buildings and Bells, Museum 52, New York (2011); and Stephen Vitiello, The Project, New York (2006). He has participated in such group exhibitions as Soundings: A Contemporary Score, Museum of Modern Art, NY (2013); Sound Objects: Leah Beeferman and Stephen Vitiello, Fridman Gallery, New York (2014); September 11, PS 1/MoMA, LIC, NY (2011-2012); the 15th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2006); Yanomami: Spirit of the Forest at the Cartier Foundation, Paris; and the 2002 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2002). Vitiello has performed nationally and internationally, at locations such as the Tate Modern, London; the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival; The Kitchen, New York; and the Cartier Foundation, Paris. In 2011, ABC-TV, Australia produced the documentary Stephen Vitiello: Listening With Intent. Awards include Creative Capital (2006) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2011-2012). Vitiello is a professor of Kinetic Imaging at Virginia Commonwealth University. He lives and works in Richmond, Virginia.
