Matthew Steinke

Easy, 2007.

Deadtech, one of the great Chicago alternative spaces, was founded in 1998 by Rob Ray. It seeks to provide a suitable venue for artists working in the “techcentric arts” such as film, video, computer programming and mechanization/robotics. The work in Matthew Steinke’s show, ranging from encaustic paintings to small sculptures, centers around his episodic stop-motion–animated film, Haruspex.

The silent film relates a mysterious, sometimes humorous narrative set in an ancient world of alchemy and mysticism; its vague nature leaves the viewer in the role of interpreter. A haruspex is a prophet who can elicit truths by reading the entrails of a sacrificial animal. Generally speaking, the story is a cautionary tale of such necromancers meeting their demise while in search of hidden knowledge. However indecipherable the story may be, the grainy, flickering film is rife with engaging, otherworldly imagery.A strange light pulses and the camera shudders, as though it were a film from the dawn of cinema. How odd it is, then, to learn that the whole piece was made using a digital still camera, and the quivering figures and flickering light were meticulously planned and edited, frame by frame, in a computer program Steinke created with his brother specifically for animators. Truly, this is a situation where baffling ingenuity can make technology seem like magic. —Erik Wenzel