Bill Morrison and Vijay Iyer: Release

Eastern State Penitentiary

2009
$47,090

eastern-state-release-2009-02.jpg

Bill Morrison and Vijay Iyer, RELEASE. Curated by Julie Courtney at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, 2010. Photo courtesy of Eastern State Penitentiary.

Filmmaker Bill Morrison and composer Vijay Iyer created a site-specific installation in Eastern State Penitentiary, a once abandoned 19th-century prison. The project, entitled Release, was organized by independent curator Julie Courtney, and brought together the two artists to manipulate and score found archival footage of the release of notorious criminal Al Capone from Eastern State in 1930. This exhibition opened in April 2010, the 80th anniversary of Capone's release from the prison.