XY Chromosome Project 2007

by Lynne Sachs and Mark Street
11 min. 2007

The X Y Chromosome Project is the creation of artists Lynne Sachs and Mark Street. We make films and performances that use the split screen to cleave the primordial and the mediated. After returning from an inspiring week-long artist retreat at the Experimental Television Center, Lynne asked Mark to collaborate with her on the creation of a piece in which they would each ruminate on the other’s visuals, reacting in a visceral way to what the other person had hurled on the screen. Lynne would edit; Mark would edit. Back and forth and always forward. No regrets or over-thinking. In this way, the diptych structure is sometimes a boxing match and other times a pas de deux. Newsreel footage of Ronald Reagan’s assassination attempt is brushed up against hand painted film, domestic spaces, and Christmas movie trailers. Together, we move from surface to depth and back again without even feeling the bends.

Lynne and Mark live in Brooklyn and have two daughters, Maya and Noa Street-Sachs.

For inquiries about rentals or purchases please contact Canyon Cinema or the Film-makers’ Cooperative. And for international bookings, please contact Kino Rebelde

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In 2010, Mark Street and Lynne Sachs created The XY Chromosome Project an umbrella for their
collaborative ventures. Together they have produced an array of collaborative installations, performances, and two-dimensional art works.

“The XY Chromosome Project follows the career paths of Lynne Sachs and Mark Street. To follow this
path is to trace a blueprint on devotion. Working both together and individually for the past 30 years, each artist has carved out their own niche without the obvious influences of being married. They part ways to be left alone to their own creations. It is the respect for the other’s work that bonds them. Left alone, their work could not be more different. Lynne’s work is cerebral and emotional. As seen in her full length films “Your Day is My Night” and “Tip of My Tongue”. She collages the art of storytelling by layering stunning visuals while swimming between reality and performance. Mark is the experimental film hero, a pioneer in film manipulation, an encyclopedia in the world of experimental films. His film work is solely connected to what is possible in the organics of film manipulation. They celebrate experimentation in its truest form. Yet both come down on the same line when it matters most. The line of captivation which as any artist knows is the hardest to achieve.” (Stephen Lipuma, Court Tree Gallery)