Chris Chludenski studio visit

Q & A with Schoolhouse resident, photographer, and mobile maker, Chris Chludenski.

QUESTIONS:::

C & P: You make found object mobiles and also shoot Polaroid photographs. How long have you been creating your mobiles and taking photos? Do you prefer working in one medium over another?
Chris: I’ve been doing both for about thirteen years now. I don’t prefer one medium over another but i certainly produce more Polaroids than I do mobiles. I prefer photography as an artform, as I can take it with me as I go, whereas with the mobiles I need materials and a studio space.

C & P: What are you most frequently drawn to as subject matter in your photography work? How about with your found object mobiles? Is there a correlation between the work?
Chris: I try to say something with the mobiles and express my views. Polaroids for me are much more documentary and don’t necessarily have a message behind them.

C & P: Tell me a bit about your camera collection… How many do you have? Have you used all of them? Which is your favorite?
Chris: I’ve got about 350 cameras. Mostly Kodaks, made between 1890 and 1980, and Polaroids, plus few Imperials, Agfas, and Spartus. Some working, some not. I’ve used about a quarter of them, I bet. Most would be in working order if film were available, but some are just beautiful models I can’t part with. I like that the older cameras were much more stylish, inventive, and decorative than what is produced today. My favorite is between the Big Shot Polaroid, that Andy Warhol made famous in his portraits, or the Kodak Colorburst camera, which Polaroid sued Kodak over and had production of both cameras and film stopped because of patent infringement.

C & P: Now that Polaroid has gone out of business and the film is no longer available what do you shoot with?
Chris: Fuji makes a film compatible with many Polaroid Land Cameras. Also the Impossible Project manufactures instant Polaroid film for sx-70 cameras. The film itself is flawed and expensive, but the idea to keep Polaroid alive is admirable.

C & P: Do you ever shoot digitally or do you prefer to still use film?
Chris: It depends on what I’m shooting. I have a Nikon digital camera that I use sometimes. I’ve also got a Canon 35mm.

C & P: Do you feel that digital lacks a certain quality that you look for in an image?
Chris: It doesn’t lack anything, its just a different aesthetic. A different view of the same thing.

C & P: You studied at Emerson College in Boston, did you study photography there?
Chris: I earned my BA in Photojournalism.

C & P: Do you prefer living in New York to Boston?
Chris: No.

C & P: How has living at the Schoolhouse influenced your work? If at all?
Chris: I’ve been able to see things differently and get new perspectives.

C & P: What artists have been an influence on you?
Chris: Alexander Calder has always been a huge inspiration to me. Robert Capa. Ralph Eugene Meatyard.

C & P: What could you imagine doing if you did not create art?
Chris: Nothing.

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The Schoolhouse will be open for Bushwick Open Studios from June 1 – June 3rd, stop by and see the fabulous space (and art inside) for yourself. More information here.

The Schoolhouse will be open:
Friday, the 1st – 5PM — 11PM
Saturday, the 2nd – 12PM — 11PM
Sunday, the 3rd – 12 PM – 8 PM

Augustin Doublet will be screening his new short film Adam all weekend.

Photos © Christine Navin. Do not reproduce without permission.

Augustin Doublet

Q & A with Schoolhouse resident and filmmaker Augustin Doublet.

QUESTIONS:::

C & P:You are from France and have been living in NYC for 3 years now. How do you find the experience of living in New York? Do you prefer it to Paris?
Augustin: New York is a very challenging city and if ever you’re not in the mood or feel, let’s say melancholic, the city does not forgive it and can be harsh . In comparison to Paris the pace, the architecture, and the art de vivre is much softer.
On the other side, if you’re able to project yourself, your energy and your ideas on the city and break through the glass, the city gives you back so much in terms of dynamism, exchange, network, and money.

C & P: Did you come to NYC to study film? What program are you part of?
Augustin: Indeed. I first came here as an exchange student at Brooklyn College while I was finishing a Master’s Degree at a Parisian university.
Then I realized how much more I could and had to get from the city, Brooklyn College, and the Schoolhouse, so I decided to stay and with the help of the dean of the Film Department of the Brooklyn College I’ve been allowed to pursue my studies here.

C & P: Did you create films when you lived in France?
Augustin: Yes, I used to work mostly in the pre-production of documentaries. I worked for Gedeon Programmes for a couple of years as an AD and ghostwriter and on some other TV projects.
Otherwise at that time I was mostly painting and shooting stills, and art videos. The cinema has always been present but more as a vanishing point.

C & P: Tell me a bit about the films that you create. The 2 films that I have seen are very different, one a documentary about a local Bushwick character/photographer (What the Fuchs?) and the other a reflection on brutality (Vanishing Point). Have you always worked with a number of types of filmmaking? Do you prefer black and white film to color? 
Augustin: I’m just experimenting. But looking at my work I can say that my imagination and my desire are very related to the location and environment I’m in.
For instance What the Fuchs? was an attempt to grasp some of the Bushwick hipstery mayhem through the portrait of the photographer Rafael Fuchs. Vanishing Point was the graphical aspect of Brooklyn, the shades of the train tracks, the broken warehouse, the turmoil of the graffiti.

Stills from Vanishing Point

C & P: Where does the text that the woman is reading in the film come from?
Augustin: The text has been written by Mariette Papic, a great poet and a dear friend of mine. I commissioned her for that piece; which brings a lot of depth and complex sensuality to the story.

C & P: Vanishing Point is shot in Bushwick and has the gritty look of films which were part of the “cinema of transgression” movement in the 1980s on the lower east side. Are you influenced by filmmakers like Nick Zedd and Richard Kern? Did seeing their films create a desire in you to come to NYC to make films?
Augustin: I discovered their work after the production of Vanishing.
When I first came here it was mostly the New Hollywood period that I had in mind. I was looking for the mood of the 70s. I was really fascinated by the harshness, dirtiness, and loose eroticism of the cinema of the 70s.

C & P: The film also utilizes the Schoolhouse space, did you have help from your housemates when filming? Is living at the Schoolhouse inspirational for you?
Augustin: The Schoolhouse is the first and only space I lived in since I arrived in NY. And I consider myself very lucky for that. I found myself right away surrounded by creative people who were already very active in the industry. Cassidy Mosher was working on Gossip Girl, Derek Deems (the DP of two of my films) was a freelance grip, Jennifer Sacks already set designed many shorts.
It was and it still is a very creative and challenging environment.

C & P: Who is the woman in the film? Do you use trained actors in your films or people that you know?
Augustin: Laura Graham who has the lead in Vanishing Point is a professional actress as well as a talented producer/director.
For my latest production I worked with mostly professional actors (Anna-Nora Bernstein who has the supporting lead role has already played major parts in a few features). However, I encountered the lead character Marcus Grant randomly on the basketball court of my block next to the Bushwick Housing projects.
Marcus delivered an incredible performance and I truly hope that ADAM will only be the beginning of his career.
There was a large cast and crew with some complicated scenes in terms of choreography and pacing, so we rehearsed a lot together, which is kind of unusual in the production of a short film.
The fact that I write direct and produce my own projects allows the cast as well as the crew to experiment with me throughout the process.

C & P: Tell me a little about the new film that you are working on now? When/where will you be showing it?
Augustin: ADAM will be shown during BOS. The story is about the odd and charming journey that Adam, a kid from the hood and Coco, a kleptomaniac actress, are going through during one day in Bushwick.
It encompasses the different aspects of the neighborhood: the gritty part, with the street scams, the violence, in a word the low-life reality, juxtaposed against the emerging artistic and creative side.

Stills from ADAM

C & P: What filmmakers/artists/places/etc… have been an influence on you?
Augustin: I truly discovered cinema when I was 16 thanks to a friend of mine Anton Solnitski (now a filmmaker). We missed classes together and spent our afternoons watching Bergman, Kubrick, and Kurosawa movies.
I would say that Fellini gave a lot of flavors and motion to my imagination. Wells certainly gave me a strong desire to tell stories and to keep on dreaming no matter what the obstacles may be.
Literature and art history are my first loves and it’s true that even if I’m not sure yet how they have or will influence me, authors like: Baudelaire, Melville, Celine, Rousseau, Kafka, Borges, Dostoevsky, Genet, or Koltes have been very present in my life.
The same applies to painters and photographers, to quote a few: Hopper, Freud, Bacon, Whistler, Courbet, Shiele, Goya, Giacometti, Rembrandt, El Greco, Koudelka, Franck, Moon, Avedon…

C & P: What could you imagine doing if you did not create art?
Augustin: I’m not really sure that I’m doing art I would just say that I’m experimenting and in doing so I try to travel and introduce myself to different cultures, patterns (psychological and visual) and people.
I’m not sure what I would do but I enjoy helping people to create and express themselves a lot. Or maybe I would try to open a restaurant in the south-west of France with a couple of friends.

Augustin’s room at the Schoolhouse

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The Schoolhouse will be open for Bushwick Open Studios from June 1 – June 3rd, stop by and see the fabulous space (and art inside) for yourself. More information here.

The Schoolhouse hours over BOS weekend:
Friday, the 1st – 5PM — 11PM
Saturday, the 2nd – 12PM — 11PM
Sunday, the 3rd – 12 PM – 8 PM

Augustin Doublet will be screening Adam all weekend.

Photos of Augustin © Christine Navin. Do not reproduce without permission.

the schoolhouse art space

Went to check out the Schoolhouse in Bushwick the other weekend. I peeked into a few studios and photographed 3 of the artists working within those spaces, alongside their work. I also photographed some of the common spaces and the interior of the amazing building.

The Schoolhouse was built in 1883 and used as a school until 1945, at which point it was sold to be used as a manufacturing business. It was used as a manufacturing space for many years (more historical information here), then abandoned, and then converted into artist’s live/work spaces in the 1990s. Originally the artists space was called ORT (the German word for site or place and also an acronym for “organizing resources together.”), now the space is just known as the Schoolhouse. Since the 90s there has been a revolving cast of creative individuals taking up residence in the space. The Schoolhouse is not an art collective or commune, however, the members of the house tend to act like a family; sharing art supplies, participating in house events, sometimes collaborating on art projects, and consuming many communal meals together.

The Schoolhouse will be open for Bushwick Open Studios from June 1 – June 3rd, stop by and see the fabulous space (and art inside) for yourself. More information here.

The Schoolhouse hours over BOS weekend:
Friday, the 1st – 5PM — 11PM
Saturday, the 2nd – 12PM — 11PM
Sunday, the 3rd – 12 PM – 8 PM
Augustin Doublet will be screening his new short film Adam all weekend.

Here are some photographs of the Schoolhouse space. And a Q & A about the space with 3 of the resident artists, Justin Orvis Steimer, Augustin Doublet, and Chris Chludenski.
I will also be posting interviews over the next couple of days with these artists that concentrate more on their individual artwork and studio spaces.

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QUESTIONS:::

C & P: How many years have you each lived at the Schoolhouse?
Justin: I moved in May of 2008, so 4 years now.
Chris: 3 years.
Augustin: 3 years.

2nd floor

2nd floor

C & P: Have you found that the area of Bushwick where the Schoolhouse is located has changed a lot since you moved into the space?
Justin: Broadway hasn’t changed a whole lot. A bodega or store will go out of business occasionally but it is replaced by something similar to what was already there. A lot of the bodegas are remodeling, putting up new signs, brighter lights, nicer counters but they still sell the same stuff. As you get closer to the Morgan and Jefferson L train stops there are a lot more start up restaurants and stores, places that weren’t there one or two years ago. There are definitely more police around than there used to be, including mounted police surveillance cameras and these star wars looking mobile cop towers that raise up like 20 feet.
Chris: Not really.
Augustin: I was surprised the other day to see a young white couple carrying their babies around on Broadway. 3 years ago I truly think that the Schoolhouse was one of the few places where white people lived in this part of Bushwick.

2nd floor

2nd floor

C & P: Have you ever lived in similar places in other cities?
Justin: No.
Chris: Nope.
Augustin: I spent one summer in Barcelona in a very creative environment but no I truly think that the Schoolhouse is unique. Actually the space and the people of the Schoolhouse played a major part in the choice I made to stay in New York.

2nd floor

2nd floor

2nd floor

C & P: Do you collaborate with past and present residents of the Schoolhouse? Do you consider the residents of the Schoolhouse to be members of a collective ?
Justin: So many people have been in and out of here, it all depends. Sometimes someone moves in that just clicks and in that case collaboration happens naturally. Some people move in and keep more to themselves and don’t really get involved with the rest of the house too much. Right now we have an amazingly talented group that has been living here for a couple years. We have created a family more than a collective. We cook and eat together often, we spend a lot of time talking and bouncing ideas around. When someone moves out they know that they always have a home here.
Chris: Not really a collective, per se. More like collaborating artists. It is good to have other people to run ideas by that aren’t necessarily working in the same medium as you, and also there’s a lot of material sharing going on, which is more convenient than having to go to the art store.
Augustin: We just finished the production of a short movie together. It was a fantastic and intense experience. All who live here are true artists and craftsman. So you can imagine how pleasant it is to work with skilled people that you love and care about.
It’s the second movie that I have produced with the roommates and I truly hope to continue this type of collaboration. One of the former roommates, Derek Deems, even came back from LA just to help with the shoot.
In my view the Schoolhouse is more of a community than a collective, meaning that the bond between people is more based on friendship than on art.

3rd floor

3rd floor

3rd floor

3rd floor

C & P: What is your greatest memory of time spent at the Schoolhouse since you have lived there?
Justin: Honestly what I enjoy the most is laying in the bathtub in my room in the late afternoon light, watching the reflections of the water on the ceiling and being totally at peace with the universe.
Chris: Holidays like Thanksgiving are really fun and unique when everyone’s around. Some of the events we’ve thrown like the “tooth replacement” fundraiser will always stand out in my mind.
Augustin: The Block Party that we throw with our neighbors every summer is certainly one of the best time.

3rd floor

3rd floor

3rd floor

3rd floor

C & P: What sort of events do you have in the space? Art-related? Music-related?
Justin: On my floor (the second floor) we have art shows every couple of months. Usually we show the work of people living in the house and our friends. Recently we hosted an Animamus Art Salon which brought in artists who we had never met. I like for the space to be used like that, bringing people together.
Chris: Both. Plus fundraisers for art, music, or good causes…
Augustin: All types of events. The people of the 3rd floor are for the most part musicians so you can expect to have a concert of indie-rock, electro, noise every month or so… Mark Dwinnel, who kind of manages the space of the 3rd floor, also used to organize lectures and poetry readings. I use the space to produce electro parties with Resolute and burlesque shows with MadSharpe production. Otherwise I would say that every other month the 1st and 2nd floor people exhibit their work or make the space available for performances.

3rd floor

3rd floor

C & P: I read that you throw a block party in the summer. How did that start? Do most of the people in the building participate in some capacity?
Justin: Our neighbors have been throwing the block party for years. Only in the past couple have we begun to get involved. It has grown to become one of the best days of the year. The whole block comes together to celebrate the summer. We grill out front and blast music from the roof. Everyone brings something to eat or drink and the whole block shares everything. Our neighbors set up pools in the street and rent a giant (like 30 feet tall) inflatable water slide. At night we move the party inside and keep going until morning.
Chris: You just gotta get a permit for a date, then get neighborhood signatures. Then the city closes the street down for the day and all have a great time. Everyone is the building either comes out, or cooks, or just joins in the general festivities. Its probably the kids who live on the block that have the most fun, getting to run around like maniacs all day.

3rd floor

3rd floor

C & P: You are also involved in Bushwick Open Studios at the beginning of June. Do you have any special events planned in the space for the occasion?
Justin: Each of us will have our work up all over the space. We are going to build some tents to hang out in and I am going to make pancakes. I will play the organ in the living room a bit as well. Elliot will be screen printing down stairs and Willy will be roller skating around the dance studio while playing the guitar and singing.
Chris: There will be music events for sure. And we’re all putting up some sort of art, so there will be plenty to see.
Augustin: Yes, of course! We will screen the latest movie that I directed and produced. It’s a very dear project to me and I’m very proud of it. It’s a short fiction named ADAM. The story revolves around the day of a street smart kid in Bushwick.

the roof

the roof

Photos © Christine Navin. Do not reproduce without permission.