“Eyelydian” (2019)

EYELYDIAN (2019) Dir. Ryan Schmal Murray, USA, 2019, 3m

Ryan Murray, Associate Professor in the department of Electronic Media and Film, specializes in virtual reality/360 video. His current work, Eyelydian (2019), is a wholly original 360-degree experience begins by presenting the audience with abstract images, colors, and sounds meant to replicate sunlight against closed eyelids before evolving into a meditative, dreamlike state. Eyelydian will be screened in this year’s Convergence section of the 57th New York Film Festival, October 10-13. This is the world premiere of Murray’s newest work. Eyelydian will also be shown in two Virtual Cinema Programs!

BIOGRAPHY
Ryan Murray creates conceptually-driven artwork that combines video, virtual reality, found object sculpture, performance, painting, and music. His work complicates our experience with media and looks critically at the way it imposes meaning in our lives. Murray addresses the search for moments of meaning by turning pop-culture media/technology on itself and transforming everyday objects or experiences into subtle psychedelia.

Murray’s artwork has been exhibited internationally in galleries, museums, screening tours, and film festivals. Recent festivals include New York Film Festival: Convergence, Antimatter [Media Art] Festival, Chicago Underground Film Festival, the Festival of (In)Appropriation Tour, Milwaukee Underground Film Festival, Tacoma Film Festival, and Revolutions Per Minute Festival. Recent exhibits include CICA Museum in South Korea, the Delaware Contemporary, Work: Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan, and Hood College. He was the recipient of a 2016 Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award for Digital Media.

Murray joined the faculty at Towson University’s Electronic Media and Film Department in 2009. He is a three-time winner of the Innovation in Teaching Award from Towson University’s Office of Academic Innovation. He teaches courses on the subjects of experimental film and video art, viral video, video editing, and creativity.