Eliza Gelinas

Composer | Filmmaker | Artist

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Biography

Eliza Gelinas is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice examines the intricate relationship between memory and technology through music, experimental film works and print media. Their practice is performance-based and quasi-improvisatory, presenting visual media that combines analog filmmaking techniques and hand-drawn animation with a live electroacoustic music performance. Eliza often performs these film scores on their main instrument, euphonium, with live electronics that sample and manipulate the sound of the horn in real time creating an ambient, evolving soundscape from the beautiful brassy tone. In 2023, Eliza began working with Marcel Zaes through the Society of Electroacoustic Music US mentorship program to create this body of work, and has since performed their films “Your Silent World” and “Ephemera” at festivals such as the SEAMUS Conference at PURDUE University, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Mise-en New Music Festival NYC, and the SPLICE Institute at Western Michigan University. Eliza received a BA from Westfield State University and an MM from University of Hartford, and works currently as the Media Services Director at Hampshire College.

watch Ephemera

photos by Jacob Fleron

Their most recent film, “Ephemera”, is an audiovisual performance piece that combines filmmaking and electroacoustic music. The film is shot on 16mm with a consumer-grade Bolex camera and edited nonlinearly with hand drawn animation, and collage animation. The score is performed live on euphonium running through a Max/MSP sampler. Melodies are recorded and looped through the sampler, and manipulated further by effects such as timestretch, grain delay, pitch shift, etc., to create an evolving ambient score to accompany the film. “Ephemera”, by definition, are items which were not originally designed to be retained or preserved, but have been collected or retained. This work is an exploration of the things that hold memory, of our desire to capture memory on film and the inherent quirks in our memory preserving technologies. Throughout the piece, imagery of abandoned buildings and factories, mirrors, trees, mountains, water, cars and people are portrayed in many different forms to highlight their ephemeral, transitory nature even when captured immortally on film.