Rather than just focus on one medium of artistic expression, Point of Contact maintains three different sections that have the ability to reach a variety of audiences.The program, created by The College of Arts and Sciences, combines different disciplines of art through a gallery, publications and an international film festival. ‘I think it’s very important to understand that universities tend to fragment things into compartments,’ Owen Shapiro, director of the film festival, said. ‘The whole objective of Point of Contact is to break down those barriers of fragmentation.’ All three sections are deeply connected. On top of being the film festival’s director, Shapiro is an associate editor of the program’s publications and the associate curator of its gallery. Pedro Cuperman, the editor of the publication, is also the gallery’s curator and the associate director of the film festivals.Christine Fawcett, the executive manager of the international film festival, said the group’s publications have a distribution and a readership that is international. She also said the other sections reflect international interest as well. ‘It’s not only local and national,’ Fawcett said. ‘The film festival brings international filmmakers to Syracuse in April every year for the festival.’

Gallery

The gallery opened Friday with ‘Dialogues and Solos,’ an exhibit featuring work by two New York-based artists, Liliana Porter and Ana Tiscornia. Some of the work was individual, and sometimes the artists combined their individual styles into a single piece. Tiscornia said while they are creating new works as a team, people can still recognize their individual work. One example of this was ‘Untitled,’ where one artist created the background and the other cut out the silhouette of a rabbit on top of it.The exhibits often interact with the environment around them. The piece ‘News Forced Labor’ involves newspaper clippings scattered on the carpet, as well as a shelf. The exhibit’s dimensions were listed as ‘variable.’ The piece, ‘Event,’ has an army figure pointing his gun toward the wall, where a bullet hole was cut out. The plaster shavings from the hole’s carving remained on the floor.Porter and Tiscornia have a long history of working at Point of Contact. Porter’s figurines graced the cover of the magazine’s 2004 issue, and she has provided illustrations for many of the publication’s issues. In addition to all of her other work, Tiscornia designed the cover for Point of Contact’s 30th anniversary issue.

Publications

Point of Contact will publish its 30th anniversary issue this year, featuring some of the famous work in the publication’s past, covering many different facets of the art community.In addition to its main publication, Point of Contact publishes Corresponding Voices, a collection of poetry from some leading writers in the field. Two volumes have already been published and Point of Contact is currently working on a third.The group also publishes reviews of its gallery shows and the brochures at the actual show.Highlighting the cross-discipline strength of the group, Point of Contact also publishes Dossier, a magazine that reviews the annual international film festival.

International Film Festival

Every year, Point of Contact organizes a film festival featuring movies from around the world. The organization is currently accepting submissions to its 2007 show.The 2006 festival featured films from Israel, Taiwan, the Czech Republic, Uruguay, Turkey, China, Spain and Greece.In addition to Dossier, the film festival connects to every section of Point of Contact. The group began filming the creations of the artists’ exhibits as documentaries and some are already available on DVD.

On the Web:Pointcontact.org

If you go:What: The Point of Contact GalleryWhere: 914 East Genesee StreetWhen: Tuesday through Friday, 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Published on October 15, 2006 at 12:00 pm