Raymond Salvatore Harmon
Currently based out of Chicago, Raymond Salvatore Harmon is a cross genre media artist, filmmaker, sound artist, and record producer whose work has defied categorization for the past decade. As a new media artist and experimental filmmaker his work pushes at the boundaries between anthropological study, philosophic discourse, and contemporary art. With a CV extending from performance based 16mm and 8mm film to video circuit-bending and analog feedback installations as well as sound and visual conceptual installations and guerrilla media actions. Born in Jackson, Michigan in 1974 to a middle class background Raymond Salvatore Harmon has lived widely throughout the US (New York - NY, Savannah - GA, Ann Arbor, Louisville - KY, Eugene - OR, among many other locations).
Over the course of the past ten years Harmon has been developing and evolving the theoretical and practical applications of non object oriented art. Utilizing new media, web based content and interactive architecture in coordination with public performance, graffiti style ad bombing, and web based social engineering Harmon's work has carved out an over arching form of contemporary media insurgency.
His work has been reviewed in numerous magazines/publications, most recently in the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Signal to Noise, Wire Magazine, New York Times, Pop Matters, All About Jazz, Downbeat, Jazztimes, Point of Departure, Foxy Digitalis, among others.
His work has been presented and screened at hundreds of festivals and galleries throughout the world including - The Museum of Contemporary Art - Chicago, Unsound Festival - Krakow, Robert Beck Memorial Cinema, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, Artist Television Access, Chicago Underground Film Fest, Cement Media Festival, Athens International Film Festival, RAW Tempel - Berlin, Axiom Theater, Northwest Film Forum, Ann Arbor Film Festival, among others.
Harmon has produced highly acclaimed records from artists such as Chicago Underground Trio, Andrew Bird, Jim Baker, Josh Abrams, Rob Mazurek, Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre, as well as collaborated on projects with Alan Licht, Jeb Bishop, Frank Rosaly, Keefe Jackson, David Grubbs, John Olson (Wolfeyes), the Magik Markers, Spires that in the Sunset Rise, among others.
As an experimental filmmaker his work is abstract, often accompanied by his own electronic compositions as well as those of his various collaborators. His recent works include full scale immersive video and sound environments, large format digital prints that are then hand manipulated and painted on, and live video performances.
Harmon has performed improvised video with numerous musical groups from a diverse background including Exploding Star Orchestra, Blood on the Wall, Diplo, Wolf Parade, Chicago Underground Trio, Birth Refusal, Mandarin Movie, Jason Forrest among others.
Harmon's films often contain layered subliminal content, the source of this content is often derived from occult and mystical texts. Utilizing texts such as the Gates of Light (an early work of Hebraic mysticism, kabbalah) and Aleister Crowley's Book of Lies, Harmon's occult based films work as advanced meditative tools for use in occult rituals and the expansion of the conscious mind.
Often compared to Stan Brakhage and the painter Mark Rothko, Harmon's use of abstract imagery is more directly influenced by the works of Harry Smith (both as a filmmaker and archivist) and Nam June Paik. Much of the philosophical discourse concerning the alchemical/mystical influences in Harmon's occult filmworks (YHVH, Tree of Knowledge/Tree of Life, Elementals) mentions the works of 17th century English author Thomas Vaughan and the anonymous 13th century English mystical text "The Cloud of Unknowing"
On March 7th 2008 Harmon presented a 3 channel video performance of Aleister Crowleys Rites of Eleusis. This piece was reviewed in the [Fortean Times].
In Nov/Dec 2007 Harmon toured and lectured in Europe, performing improvised video with Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra, and conceptualizing several new works to be unveiled in 2008.
In December 2007 Harmon was invited by Prof. Ryszard W. Kluszczynski to lecture at the University of Lodz.
In April 2007 he celebrated the release of Chronicle, a feature length music performance of the Chicago Underground Trio. Which had its theatrical premiere at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival in November.
From October 2005 to October 2006 Harmon was the visiting Director of the DANK German Cultural Center in Chicago. His programs were featured in Timeout Chicago, Chicago Tribune, MetroMix, Chicago Reader, WGN TV, among others.
In October 2003 Harmon was invited to lecture at the University of Oregon and to present a new film piece commissioned for the occasion "The Three Stigmata of Marshal McLuhan"
In April 2002 Harmon launched the Betasound online record label. Whose free online catalog contains works by artists such as Luc Ferrari, Derek Bailey, Noël Akchoté, Mats Gustafson, David Grubbs, Frank Rosaly, Joe Daley Trio among many others.
In February 2001 Harmon was invited to be a guest of the Cement Media Festival in Eindhoven, Netherlands. He presented his large scale video installation "Dreamlife of Sleeping Buildings" at the Technical University of Eindhoven. This curated installation piece included video works by Brian Frye, Kenneth Eisenstein, Eve Heller, Sean Capone (Positron), Alexander Horn, Andrew Personnette, Suji, and Randy Lee Sutherland.
Lectures-
"Painted in Light: Experimental Film and the Advent of Improvised Cinema"
University of Lodz, Poland - December 2007
Goldsmiths University, London, UK - February 2008
"Transcendental Cinema: Abstract Light and the Nature of Visual Meditation"
New Nothing Cinema, San Francisco CA - July 2007
"An Empire of Signs Without Meaning: Marshall McLuhan and the Media Revolution"
University of Oregon, Cultural Forum - Eugene, OR - October 2003
"Evolution vs. Revolution : Socio-communicative Developments Inside the Art Paradigm"
Expressions School of New Media - Oakland, CA - June 2002
"Sublimate the Pretext: Delineation of Familiar Architectural Roles in our Environment"
Cement Media Festival - Eindhoven, Holland - February 2001
"Implementing a Dialog: Proposal for Corporate Curatorial Program of Media Art"
Royal Philips Laboratories, Eindhoven, Holland - August 2000
"Unpremeditated Appearance : Context and Content in Film Presentation"
Around the Coyote Arts Festival - Chicago, IL - May 2000
"Deviational Iconography and the Blank Screen: A Search for the Pure Image"
Carnagie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA - May 1999
"Cumulative Response: The Manifestation of Technology in Public Art"
New School of Art, Marin, CA October 1998
"Environmental Sound Design and the Virtual Installation"
Jackson Community College, Jackson, MI - November 1997
"The Dynamics of Social Change: The De-evolution of Art in America"
Olivet College, Olivet, MI - July 1993
Exhibitions/Installations (selected)-
Transcendental Territories
Inspire Fine Art, Chicago - April/May 2007
Isolated Instances
Heaven Gallery - Chicago - July 2004
Isolated Instances
Open End Gallery - Chicago - February 2004
Oneirographers Closet
(micro-installation exhibiton) Feitico Gallery, Chicago, IL - August 2001
Dreamlife of Sleeping Buildings (video installation) -
Technical University Eindhoven - Eindhoven, Holland - February 2001
Subliminal Scores for Improvisational Spaces -
Around the Coyote Festival, Chicago, IL - September 2000
Les Fantomes de Lumiere -
(film improvisation) Chicago Underground Film Festival - August 2000
Sprayed On In Light-
(interactive video performance) Outerpretation Media, Chicago, IL - Sept 1997
24fps (frames per second) -
Gallery 114 - (exhibition) - New York, NY - November 1996
Filmography-
Aleister Crowley's Rites of Eleusis - 2008
Tactic - 2008
Veves + Loas - 2007
The Philosopher's Stone - 2007
Sigils of the Heptameron - 2007
Traces - 2007
Chronicle - 2006
Cornerstone - 2006
Secrets - 2006
redlight - 2006
Colorform - 2006
Elevated - 2006
Plexus Illuminata - 2005
YHVH - 2005
Reliquary of Light (for Mr Boyd Lynn) - 2004
violetsummer - 2004
Resistance - 2004
The Three Stigmata of Marshall McLuhan - 2003
Cloud of Unknowing - 2003
Fireflies - 2003
Daath - 2002
ambientlight - 2002
A Map of the City - 2001
Six Ways Sideways - 2001
Unfolding Urban Algorithms - 2001
The Koan of Sisyphus - 2001
Tiny Inconsistencies - 2001
Les Fantomes de Lumiere - 2000
staticerosion - 1999
Sprayed On In Light - 1997