Shona Masarin is a New York City-based Australian filmmaker whose work involves the manipulation of film and found materials to create abstract animations. Finished works have taken the form of Super 8mm or 16mm films, film performances with live music, and installations; presented at film festivals in Australia, including the Melbourne International Film Festival, and at various art spaces and galleries in New York. She has received funding for her work from the Australia Council for the Arts, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, and the Jerome Foundation. Recent projects include a collaboration with choreographer/performer, Cori Olinghouse on a 16mm film based on Olinghouse's Ghost Lines.
Screenings + Collaborations
2019
Fracto Film Festival, Berlin. Ruins included in “Selection #2: Through a Glass, Darkly”
SFMoMA, San Francisco. Crossroads Film Festival / San Francisco Cinematheque. Curated by Steve Polta. Ruins included in “feeling gravity's pull”
The MAC, Dallas. Cosmic to Corporeal: Contemporary Queer Performance Practices. Ghost line included in group exhibition.
2017
Knockdown Center, New York. "The Owl Flies at Midnight" - OPTIPUS collective performance in conjunction with "Dreamlands: Expanded" and “Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016“ exhibition. Organized by Microscope Gallery and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
2015
Microscope Gallery, New York. "Cure the Night" - "Ghost line" included in group screening & performances curated by Bradley Eros, part of YES Series.
EYE Film Institute, Cinedans Dance on Screen Festival, Amsterdam. "Ghost line" included in group shorts screening.
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Dance on Camera festival, New York. "Ghost line and Other Celluloid Antics" -screening moderated by Jon Gartenberg.
2014
Silent Barn, New York. Untitled - expanded cinema and live music performance by Memory Veins (Shona Masarin + Andrew Hurst).
Socrates Sculpture Park, New York. "SOUND EVENT" - An evening of site-specific sound performances. Presented by Socrates Sculpture Park and Norte Maar.
Spectacle Theatre, New York. "Ganymede" - premiere of Jonas Reinhardt's Ganymede: vinyl record and DVD set from Constellation Tatsu with films by Antonia Kuo, Josh Lewis, Kenneth Zoran Curwood, Shona Masarin, Ben Mosca, and Lily Jue Sheng.
2013
Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, New York. "Ghost lines" - premiere of Ghost line film, by Shona Masarin and Cori Olinghouse.
Eyebeam, New York. "Essential Repertoire: John Cage & Lejaren Hiller, HPSCHD" - performance, contributing artist. Visual score directed and curated by Bradley Eros.
Flux Factory, New York. USA "ANYTHING anything" -Artists in residence group exhibition.
2012
Greenpoint Film Festival, New York. "A Burning Desire For Something Unusual" - group screening. Curated by Bradley Eros and Stephanie Wuertz.
Roulette, New York. "Everything Happens on Mondays" series - screening of Ghost line film (work in progress) by Shona Masarin and Cori Olinghouse with live performances by Cori Olinghouse and Kai Kleinbard.
Vaudeville Park, New York. "Our Way Lit by Projectors' Glow" - group screening. Curated by Kenneth Zoran Curwood. Screening of Ghost line film (work in progress) by Shona Masarin and Cori Olinghouse.
Union Docs, New York. "The Index of Maladjustments" - group screening. Presented by The Camera Club of New York (CCNY) and Union Docs. Curated by Lindsey Castillo.
2011
Bio Paradis / Kinosmiðja, Reykjavik. "Millennium Film New York City" - group screening.
Osvaldo Romberg Studio, Philadelphia. "Medi(t)ations upon a Medium" - group exhibit. Curated by Osvaldo Romberg and K. Malcolm Richards.
Center for Performance Research, New York. USA. In the Use of Others for the Change - collaborating artist. Produced by Jason Andrew + Norte Maar.
Serralves Contemporary Art Museum, Porto. Sun Moon and Stars by Elaine Summers - collaborating artist. Live music performed by Pauline Oliveros and Jason Hwang.
2010
Centotto, New York. “Marksmen and the Palimpsests” - group exhibit - screening of Intimate Machine.
Norte Maar, New York. “Verse Suivante” – group exhibit - installation of Intimate Machine.
Lumenhouse, New York. “Some very peculiar people live in Bushwick” - group exhibit - screening of selected films.
Grace Exhibition Space, New York. The Chosen, The Remembered – Film screened with live music by Andrew Hurst.
Australian International Experimental Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia. Behind My Mouth, Beneath My Lips, On My Eyes – official selection.
Famous Accountants, New York. Documents of Discovery – Multi-projector film screening with live music by Andrew Hurst and Amery Kessler.
2009
English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn N.Y. USA. — Poems of Apparent Motion - film projector performance with live music by Andrew Hurst.
Melbourne International Film Festival, Australia. Moving Miscellanea - official selection.
Press
Gia Kourlas, “A Kaleidoscope of Nostalgia for an Unlived Past,” The New York Times, December 13, 2013.
Lauren Bomboy, “Impressions of: Cori Olighouse's 'Ghost Lines' at Danspace,” Dance Enthusiast, December 17, 2013.
Lydia Mokdessi, “Catching Up: December at Danspace,” Culturebot, January 14, 2014.
Cat Gilbert, “Interview with Cori Olinghouse,” The 22 Magazine Blog, September 2, 2012.
Michael McGregor, “A Visit With Ghost line,” Video editorial in Kickstarter Blog, July 24, 2012.
Cassie Marketos, “Featured Creator: Experimental dance film Ghost line,” Kickstarter Blog, June 12, 2012.
Thomas Micchelli, “In the Use of Others for the Change,”The Brooklyn Rail, May 2011.
Jake Wilson, “Festival’s Reel Time Experiment,” The Age, April 29. 2010.
Awards/residencies
2019-20 Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, EFA Project Space, SHIFT Residency.
2013 Jerome Foundation, NYC Film & Video Grant.
2013 New York State Council on the Arts’ Electronic Media and Film Finishing Funds grant program, administered by The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes.
2011 Ian Potter Cultural Trust, Individual artist grant.
2010 Australian Council for the Arts, ArtStart individual artist grant.
Education
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Media Arts) – Film & Video/Digital Culture, Deakin University. Melbourne, VIC. Australia.