The Tuba Thieves: Scene 61—The Kaleidoscopic Window, 2018. HD video. 05:52. Cinematography by Judy Phu

This film, composed of installations, sculptures, and performances, began after a series of tuba robberies from Los Angeles schools. The story of a Deaf drummer runs parallel to marching band students reconciling with missing sound. The project prioritizes Deaf and Hard of Hearing experiences and reimagines the aural world. The Deaf Club segment focuses on the last punk show held at the Deaf Club in San Francisco, a deaf social club that opened its doors to the West Coast punk scene in the late ’70s. O’Daniel filmed a reenactment, collaborating with 60 people from the larger deaf community in NYC and 40 hearing punks. She re-created the music, clothing, connection, and gulf between the deaf patrons and hearing punks as they mingled, drank, and danced.

The Tuba Thieves: Scene 22—The Deaf Club, 2015. HD video, VHS, and 16mm transferred to HD, 2 channels. 06:17. Cinematography by Meena Singh.

Deaf artist Christine Sun Kim, and composer of one of the scores for The Tuba Thieves, signs the final scene in which the main character, Nyke, goes skinny dipping with her boyfriend Nature Boy. Three narrative versions of the story unfold simultaneously—the written screen-play, a version told by Christine in American Sign Language, and a voiceover reciting the exact English translation of Christine’s teleprompter notes.

BIOGRAPHY

Born: Miami, Florida 1979

Resides: Alameda, California, and Los Angeles, California

Education: University of California Irvine School of Art (M.F.A., 2010); Cleveland Institute of Art (B.F.A., 2003)

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS  

2019    “Heavy Air,” Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, Nebraska.

2018    “Say the Word 'Nowhere,' Say 'Headphones,' Say 'Nothing,’” Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles.

2016    “Room Tone,” New Commissions Series, Art in General, New York.

2015    “All Component Parts (Listeners),” Passerelle Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brest, France.

2013    “Quasi Closed Captions,” Samuel Freeman Gallery, Los Angeles.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2019    “Disarming Language: Disability, Communication, Rupture,” Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia.

            “In Plain Sight,” Henry Art Gallery, Seattle.

            “Infinite Ear,” Centro Centro, Madrid.

2018    “Made in LA 2018,” Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.

            “Infinite Ear,” Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY  

2019    Macauley, Scott. “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” Filmmaker (August 28).

2018    Ellegood, Anne. "Generative Misunderstanding: Alison O'Daniel Interviewed," Bomb (August 14).

2016    Reese, Nathan. "Scenes from a Punk Rock and Storytelling Show, for Deaf People," T: New York Times Style Magazine (April 29).

2013    Berardini, Andrew. "Alison O'Daniel," ArtReview (October).

2012    Harren, Natilee. "Alison O'Daniel, 500 Words," Artforum (January 25).

SELECTED PERFORMANCES

2019    “Skater’s Score,” Centre Pompidou, Paris.

2016    “The Deaf Club,” Knockdown Center, Maspeth, New York.

            “Centennial High School Marching Band, Forwards, Backwards, Pause, Silent,” Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Los Angeles.

SELECTED SCREENINGS

2020    The Sea, the Stars, a Landscape, True/False Film Festival, Columbia, Missouri.

2019    Omni Audience, Triple Canopy, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.

2018    Maybe I Hadn’t Been Paying Attention, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore.

2015    Poetry, Mumok Cinema, Vienna.

2014    Night Sky, Aspen Art Museum, Colorado.