Featured Artist: William Koenig-Vinicombe
Last week, youth from The Art Effect’s Spark Studios workforce program collaborated on a public art video projection with William Koenig-Vinicombe, for the PKX Reel Exposure International Teen Film & Photography Festival. Featured artist Koenig-Vinicombe is a Hudson-Valley-based photographer and video editor who recontextualizes cultural iconography through a combination of digital and analog image-making.
In a weeklong spring break intensive, nine youth discussed mass-media messages that they felt had influenced their perception of self, then brainstormed ways to subvert these harmful stereotypes and misrepresentations. Topics included teen mental health, masculinity, and women’s representation in sports. Koenig-Vinicombe led the group to edit videos from contemporary sources of mass media, distort old video tapes, and create layers of physical collages. Through greenscreen and digital editing techniques, the youth combined these three mediums and created new and empowering short videos about their chosen topics.
In an era of constant media inundation, this intensive was a great opportunity for youth to practice cultural literacy, learn new artmaking skills, and express their own unique points of view. “I believe it will be powerful for the public to see the kind of media that has impacted the youth, and hopefully inspire new media with these new perspectives in mind,” Koenig-Vinicombe stated.
The youth participants’ completed videos will be unveiled at the PKX Reel Exposure Festival on Friday, May 5 at 7:30 pm at the Trolley Barn Gallery. Join us to view this thought-provoking projection and hear Koenig-Vinicombe discuss the project and his work.
About the final art: Media Metamorphosis is a video art installation created by eight youth at The Art Effect in collaboration with artist William Koenig-Vinicombe. The two-channel video was produced for this year’s PKX Festival, which took place over three days in May. Using found footage to analyze misrepresentations in popular media, the project recontextualizes imagery through collage and various video art processes to explore the transformative potential of video art. Media Metamorphosis invites viewers to see the world around them through a new lens and to critically engage with the media they consume.
The PKX Festival is conceived and produced by youth in The Art Effect’s YAEZ Liaisons workforce program, which is working to establish the Youth Arts Empowerment Zone in the immediate blocks surrounding the Trolley Barn Gallery. This long-term collaborative effort between The Art Effect, the City of Poughkeepsie, and other community partners seeks to engage locals and visitors through youth-led art projects that celebrate Poughkeepsie’s creative vitality.
Media Metamorphosis Youth Artists
Lauren Baer
Jaylamarie Belton
Aiden Colby
Melonnie Fullwood
Richard Graham
Yazmin Rivera
Nyhkaii Tissiera
Shandrela Williams
Guest Artist
William Koenig-Vinicombe
Visit the PKX Reel Exposure Festival website for the full festival lineup and to RSVP for select events. Limited space; reserve your place now!
