Old Friends
3405 North Paulina, Chicago, IL, 60657
Opening/Listening Party: October 12th, 6-9pm
Exhibition runs October 12th through November 14th
On view after sunset (and by appointment) at:
Old Friends is pleased to announce Signal/Noise, a new video installation by Doug
Fogelson, on view at Old Friends after sunset October 12th through November 14th.
Please join us for a special viewing event and listening party on Sunday, October 12th,
6pm - 9pm.
Signal/Noise was originally conceived as a series of color photograms on analog film
created between 2023 and 2025. Using gridded materials and brief exposures to colorfiltered
light, Fogelson works in darkness, combining elements by feel and chance. In
collaboration with video editor Matt Volla, the artist then translates the photograms into
moving images—crossfading, shifting saturation, cropping, and fragmenting forms.
The resulting animation expands across the gallery, geometric photograms
materializing along the axes of the inhabited architecture. Sculptural forms turn the
space into a three-dimensional projection “screen,” between which animated
geometries skip and fall.
Visible only at night through Old Friend’s storefront windows, Signal/Noise activates the
interior architecture of a gallery storefront within a predominantly commercial corridor.
Please join us for a listening party on October 12th, 6-9pm, to enjoy the
accompanying Signal/Noise sound pieces. In audio, “signal” refers to intentional
transmission, while “noise” captures incidental interference. The contributing
collaborative soundtracks reflect this tension in distinct ways:
• Doug Fogelson created two pieces using an analog Schumann Wave signal
generator and a “recording of nothing”—while incorporating chance (as in the
photograms)—plus a third composition layering field recordings of machines,
etc., with human-played parts.
• Jeffrey Lubow designed software that translates the photograms' visual edge
patterns and color weights from the video into sound, effectively facilitating the
imagery to “play itself”.
• Andy Hall and Piezas each contributed new works for the video, built from
modular synths and analog instruments.
Together, this multifaceted network of technological and artistic talents attune each
element of Signal/Noise.