Michael Schell

Last Name: 
Schell
First Name: 
Michael

Schell was born on September 17, 1961 in Waco, Texas. He grew up in Los Angeles and attended the University of Southern California between 1979 and 1983, studying with Robert Moore and Frederick Lesemann. During this time, Schell supported himself by working as a research assistant in experimental psychology. This experience convinced him of the artistic possibilities of new technology, and led to the composition of several biomusic works, including Without Electrodes (1983), for piano and respiration-triggered electronics. Changing (1982), another work from this period, uses an array of wind, percussion and electronic instruments stationed throughout the performance space to weave four separate "musics" into an epic whole. This work won a BMI Award to Young Composers in 1983. Schell visited the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford University in 1983, where he produced two computer-generated works, including karma/FOR RICK, a process piece contrasting feelings of yearning and inevitability. Later, Schell studied music and video with Kenneth Gaburo and Hans Breder at The University of Iowa, earning his Masters degree in 1985. Schell also studied with Charles Dodge and William Albright. In 1985 Schell moved to New York City, where he currently lives. Schell has received international attention for his experimental videotapes, which combine synthesized imagery and music, and explore the relationship between sign and object in contemporary society. Mea Culpa, Homage to Stanley Milgram 1933-1984 (1989), addresses human obedience to authority, reflecting Schell's interest in social psychology. Higher Laws (1990) is an essay on the romantic association of science and nature, and Lingering-Epiphany (1990), is described by Schell as "a portrait of deserts: Mojave, the slums, the Cross and the quiet mind..." Several of these works are included in the newly-released retrospective Lingering-Epiphany and other videos available from Franklin Media Distribution. In 1991, Schell co-founded the electronic arts ensemble 77 Hz, which quickly established a unique cinematic genre addressing themes germane to today's information culture. Incorporating elements of theater and electronic music into its live video performances, 77 Hz explores a broad range of personal, social and aesthetic issues, including vanity and rediscovery, control and authority, and the mystical connotations of television itself. The ensemble uses extended media techniques, including digital animation and multichannel video, in its original approach to real-time moviemaking. 77 Hz has developed over a dozen intermedia works, including JOY & other impulses (1993), Multiple Listing Service (1992), Eclectic Company (1991-5), Sequel to an Unfinished Story (1993), Stillscape (1995) and Critical (1992), a 30 minute meditation on innocence and experience which alternates between staged vignettes and stream-of- consciousness video passages. In 1994, 77 Hz presented Telephone Calls to the Dead, a collaboration with late composer Jerry Hunt. The work uses live music, and live captured and animated video imagery to explore the theme of making contact with dead people. Hunt was also the subject of Schell's essay Unlikely Persona, which appeared in Musicworks 65 in 1996, along with Schell's setting of his Song Drape #2, which was recently reissued on an Innova CD as part of the Sonic Circuits festival. In 1999, in cooperation with the Hunt estate and archives, Schell inaugurated the Jerry Hunt Home Page, the definitive on-line guide to Hunt's life and work. In addition to his intermedia projects, Schell is also known for his musical performances, which feature samplers, processed sounds and homemade electronic instruments. Musicians he has worked with include Fast Forward, Ikue Mori, Zeena Parkins, David Weinstein, Nick Didkovsky, Daniel Goode, Elise Kermani, Peter Zummo, Bonnie Barnett, Pamela Z, Kevin Norton, James Pugliese, Ed Osborn, Lynn Book, Dietmar Diesner, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Ulrich Krieger and David Poyourow. Schell has also collaborated with film/video artists Abigail Child, Benton Bainbridge, Eric Schefter, Mike Taylor and Nancy Meli Walker. Schell has been Artist-in-Residence at Film/Video Arts, Experimental Television Center, STEIM, CICV - Centre Pierre Schaeffer, the Center for Electronic Music (New York), Real Art Ways, the Craft of Choreography Conference, and iEAR Studios at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His work has been presented by The Kitchen, Roulette, Experimental Intermedia Foundation, Alternative Museum, DCTV, Anthology Film Archives, the Knitting Factory, Webo, Generator, Context, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the New York Hall of Science, the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), EZTV, LACE and the Onyx Cafe (Los Angeles), New American Makers and Artists' Television Access (San Francisco), 911 Media Arts Center (Seattle), Nexus Contemporary Arts Center (Atlanta), DiverseWorks (Houston), CAGE (Cincinnati), the Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Art (Buffalo), Visual Studies Workshop, AlternaTV (Denver), the Logos Foundation (Ghent), Waschhaus (Potsdam), Hiroshima Mon Amour (Turin), Video Tusculum, the Dallas Video Festival, Sinking Creek Film Festival, Athens International Film and Video Festival, European Media Art Festival, Louisville Film and Video Festival, Bonn Videonale, Three Rivers Arts Festival, Kansas City International Video Festival, International Youth Film Festival (Turin), Australian International Video Festival, Biannual International Video Festival in Medellin, SEAMUS, American Society of University Composers, Image Union (WTTW-TV, Chicago), Deep Dish TV, Cast Iron TV, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the CalArts Contemporary Music Festival, Electronic Music Plus Festival, International Jew's Harp Congress and New Music America. Schell has received awards from BMI and the Concorso Internazionale ´Luigi Russoloª, and his work has been supported by Meet the Composer, the American Composers Forum's Performance Incentive Fund, and the Electronic Arts Grants Program of the Experimental Television Center. http://www.schellsburg.com