An Attempt At Three Things with Four People

AST Artist-in-Residence Jeff France reveals An Attempt at Three Things with Four People, a multi-projector musical and film installation in the CapSOUL Gallery. With musical influences including turntablism, neoclassical, and the natural and manipulated acousmatic sounds of the Musique Concrète genre, Jeff France’s exhibit attempts to deconstruct the nature of classical

rhythm structure in music. Three projections will play simultaneously, featuring France with other players Juice McKenna, James Matthew Haas, and Jacob Trombetta. Each video has its own timing, creating an opportunity for the elements to sync together or drift apart. Ambient,

hypnotic, and sometimes disorienting, An Attempt at Three Things with Four People offers a minimalistic film approach to an evolving and experimental composition.

As part of the installation, Akron Soul Train partnered with Rubicon Cinema to present a collaborative evening of film, music, and experimental media on Saturday, April 18. The program featured a live performance by Jeff France with MIDI-controlled video, a film by Juice McKenna, and a performance by Brutal Bedtime, featuring France, McKenna, Haas, and Trombetta. The free public event brought together audiences from across the region to experience the interdisciplinary collaboration in an intimate cinema setting, further expanding the residency beyond the gallery and into the community.

“I experiment with musical and time-based video mediums. I am visually influenced by the filmmaker Michel Gondry and the mosaic aspects of David Hockney’s Joiners. Musically, I’m inspired by turntablism, Musique Concrète, and Neoclassical composers. I draw on aspects of these influences to create large-format video sculptures and installations that contain loosely

composed music for multiple playback devices. For this piece, my main goal was to create minimalist works that could play in or out of sync with each other using three video projections… Everything I did led me to the conclusion that the works should not attempt to be hectic and instead be slow and surreal.” – Jeff France

Jeff France is an Akron based musician and video artist. His interest in music began in high school, where he played in punk rock and hardcore bands. He began creating packaging for the bands centered around the DIY aesthetic. His musical influences expanded as he pursued a degree in Media Production from the University of Akron. His interest in turntablism and electronic music, along with Neoclassical composition techniques like Musique Concrete began to mix with his visual art experiments. Rooted in time-based mediums of animation and experimental video, he began creating installation pieces that incorporate multiple videos that sometimes play musical experiments and sometimes create mosaic human faces.

Jeff worked for many years at Akron based Earthquaker Devices as a member of their marketing team. In this roll he worked alongside many local and international acts including Uno Lady, New Zealand based band The Beths, and Japanese artist Keiji Haino. His video and animation art has played at the Open Lens Festival in Eugene Oregon, Akron’s Freakishly Short Animation Festival and the first Akron Independent Film Festival. He produced animated music videos for Drummer’s “Feel Good Together,” Floco Torres’ “Nonstop,” and France-based electronic composer Warren Walker’s “Faye.”He is currently performing with Floco Torres as a backing musician and live visual media artist. He enjoys playing in his bands Brutal Bedtime and Post Grebo. He also performs solo under the name Fej.