:: to helen ::

exploration begins at the Atheneum, Benefit St. :: 5.28 midnight

website www.portfolios.com/rlderr

To Helen will be a psychogeographical walk through Providence, documented by four video cameras attached to my person recording simultaneously the north, south, east, and west views of my journey. My walk will loosely be based on Edgar Allen Poe's poem To Helen. Based on geographical descriptions in the poem, for one hour and beginning at the Atherneum where Poe was known to write, I will trace the footsteps that Poe might have taken while creating this poem written to his beloved Helen Whitman, resident of Providence.

about the artist

Robert Ladislas Derr received a BFA in Photography from the Art Academy of Cincinnati and an MFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design. Since 1991, his artwork has been exhibited in over seventy solo and group exhibitions at museums and galleries throughout the United States and abroad including the Irish Film Institute, 2002 Blur Conference at Parsons School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Huntington Museum of Art, Rhode Island Foundation, Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, and New York University. Using a variety of artistic vernacular in his artwork, Derr employs photographs, video, new media, and performance. It can be said that he often times puts himself literally in the center of a barrage of questions about life and making art.