Various Films
Michael Paul Britto
In the Video Lounge
Friday, June 5th - Sunday, June 29th, 2009
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Born and bred in Brooklyn, Britto began his career as a child, making television shows to amuse his family, with his aunt's VHS camera. In 1999 Britto graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Communications Film and Video, Cum Laude from the City College in New York. A prolific and resourceful artist, Britto creates an average of two projects per month. Completely self taught and trained in desktop editing and imaging, he shoots his own material, edits at home and manipulates the images he collects on his personal computer. Britto's works range from narrative, documentaries and experimental videos, digital photography, sculpture, and performance.
"Working in video allows me to express myself immediately and then move on to the next thing that I'm feeling. Also, it makes the production tools affordable for everyone." In this spirit, he joined the Children's Arts Carnival in Harlem teaching young adults the basics of video production and editing during the Winter/Spring session of 2000-01. In 2002, Britto was hired by the New Museum of Contemporary Art to be an Artist in residence for their “Visual Knowledge Program” Through this program Britto outlined a curriculum that dealt with race in the media. The semester’s teachings culminated in a final video project produced by Britto and his students. During this exciting time Britto was accepted into the Film/Video Art’s Spring/Summer 2002 Artist Mentoring Program Project for his documentary Gimme Five: History of a Handshake, where he worked closely with Mentor and fellow Producer/Director Thomas Allen Harris an award winning filmmaker. Currently, he is working at Downtown Community Television Center’s youth program: Pro-TV. PRO-TV has several programs that aim to empower youth through video production. Britto teaches in the TV High program, teaching high school students basic video production skills, the Media Fellowship program, a two year program teaching youth media makers different styles of video production from experimental to international reporting, and the Reggie Pedro mens group founded in 2007 to give a voice to young men of color through video production.
In 2005 Britto was featured in two museum shows in New York City. “The S-Files” at El Museo del Barrio will feature “Ghetto Games” and “Frequency” at the Studio Museum of Harlem, which feature “Dirrrty Harriet Tubman” and "I'm A Slave 4 U". Both of these installations included video as well as poster art and found objects. In 2006 Britto was invited by the Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw Poland to participate in a group exhibition entitled “black alphabet.” This would be the first presentation in Poland from the United States focused on artists of color. 2007 found Britto exhibiting in Europe at the Victoria and Albert Museum in an exhibition entitled “Uncomfortable Truths” an exhibition that addressed the ways in which the legacy of slavery informs contemporary art and design. In 2008, Britto was asked to be an artist in residence at "Rush Arts Gallery" in New York, during the residency Britto workshoped a project entitled " This Little Word Of Mine" that resulted in several days of live performance that incorporated music and video. In addition to the "Rush Arts Gallery" residency, Britto has also had residencies at "Smack Mellon" and "The Marie Walsh Sharpe" studio program.
