The color of ritual, the color of thought: ‡b women avant-garde filmmakers in America 1930-2000.

5 Pages·2000·0.27 MB·English

THE COLOR OF RITUAL, THE COLOR OF THOUGHT:
Women Avant-Garde Filmmakers in America 1930-2000
PART June 29—July 30, 2000
I
PART September 5-October 2000
II 1,
HITNEt
Whitney Museum of American Art
Part II September 5-October 1, 2000
Sincethe 1930s,womenfilmmakershaveplayedamajor
role inthehistoryofavant-gardefilminAmerica.Thisseries
revealsthebreadthoftheirinfluenceandachievement, from
MaryEllenBute'searlyexperimentswithabstractiontothe
radicalsocialdocudramasofShirleyClarke. Recentworksby
contemporaryfilmmakerssuchasPeggyAhwesh,Abigail
Child, LeslieThornton,andSuFriedricharealsoscreened.
EachweekofPartIIof"TheColorofRitual"focuseson
oneofthefollowingfeaturedfilmmakers: MaryEllenBute,
MarieMenken,YokoOno,andChickStrand.Onweekdays,
oneortwokeyfilmsfromthefeaturedfilmmaker'scareer
arepresentedincontinuousscreenings. Duringthesepro-
grams,inadeparturefromconventionalscreeningmethods,
theKaufmanAstoriaStudios Film&VideoGallerywillbe
emptiedofseats soviewerscanexperiencethesefilmsina
"gallery"setting. Onweekends,theseatsreturnasarangeof
filmsareshownthatbroadenthemeshighlightedinthefea-
turedfilmmakerprograms.
LlinkMr.incl.Mill1 Intheearly1930s, MaryEllenButewasthefirstAmerican
artisttomakeabstractfilmsandshowthempublicly. Her
THE COLOR OF RITUAL, THE COLOR OOFF TTHHOOUUGGHHTT:: experimentswillbescreenedwithotherearlyabstractfilms
I
Women Avant-Garde Filmmakers in Amer2riiccaa 11993300--22000000 byAlexanderAlexeieff, ClaireParker,andSaraKathryn
Arledge,aswellasrecentworkbyAmyKravitzandthe
Filmmakersin"TheColorofRitual.TheColor handmade-paperfilmsofDonnaCameron.
ofThought":PeggyAhwesh,SaraKathryn MarieMenken'spainterlyexperimentswith"cinemaconcret"provideacon-
Arledge,DianaBarrie,LouiseBourque,Noll textforfilmsbyJanisCrystalLipzin,JoyceWieland, BarbaraHammer, Marjorie
Brinckmann,MaryEllenBute. Donna
Keller, HollyFisher,andothers, allofwhichfocusontheelementalcompositionof
Cameron,MaryetteCharlton,DorisChase,
film. Menken'sdelicateuseoflightisexaminedintheweekendprogramInvisible
AbigailChild,ShirleyClarke,BeverlyConrad,
SharonCouzin,StormDeHirsch.MayaDeren. Light,alongsideanumberoffilmsmadeusinghand-processingtechniques, includ-
BettyFerguson, HollyFisher,NinaFonoroff, ingalivepresentationofrecenthandmadefilmsbyLeeKristprojectedwithahand-
SuFriedrich,SallieFuchs.Silvianna cranked35mmprojector.
Goldsmith,BetteGordon,AmyGreenfield. TheradicalfilmsofYokoOnohighlightanimportantmomentintheearly
BarbaraHammer,MarjorieKeller. Karen 1970swhenfilmmakingbywomenbegantoassertitselfwithanewfound
Kramer,AlexisKrasilovsky,AmyKravitz,Lee confidence. InconjunctionwithOno'sworks,programsoffilmsbyBarbaraRubin,
Krist, Helen Levitt,I.anaLin,JeanneLiotta. AnitaThacher,CaroleeSchneemann, M.M. Serra,andJenniferReevesaddressissues
JanisCrystall.ipzin.JaniceLoeb. EvaLothar, ofthebodypolitic,fromeroticdesiretobulimia,aging, anddeath.Thepsychologi-
BabetteMangolte,CaroleandEugeneMarner,
calstrugglesofchildhood,adolescence,andadultwomanhoodareexploredinfilms
HMuerartahye.rGMucnAvdoarmsN,elsMoanr,ieYoMkeonkOenno,,JAulliiceeAnne byGunvorNelson, SallieFuchs, LeslieThornton, andAmyTaubin, amongothers.
Parker.ClaireParker.JennyPerlin, Dana ThefilmsofChickStranddrawoutseveraldisparatethemes:therealisticand
Plays,YvonneRainer,JenniferReeves,Barbara poeticstudiesofmenandwomenlivinginruralSouthAmerica;theeroticlifeof
Rubin.LynneSachs,CaroleeSchneemann, women;theprofoundsenseoflosssymbolizedbythefateofAnneFrank,andthe
RosalindSchneider.MM.Serra,AmieSiegel, formalandsocialimplicationsofcollagedfound-footagefilm.WorksbyDanaPlays,
GretaSnider.ChickStrand, ElaineSummers, AbigailChild,JulieMurray,andGunvorNelson, aswellasBettyFerguson'sfound-
AmyTaubin.AnitaThacher,LeslieThornton, footagefilmsofthe 1960s,arebroughttogetherinthisfinalweekendprogram.
JacalynL.White,andJoyceW'ieland.
Atamomentwhenthedominanceofdigitalmediahasstimulatedarevivalof
themoretactilemediumoffilm,thisgroupoffilmsbywomenunderlinesboththe
achievementsofwomenfilmmakerssincethebeginningsofAmericanavant-garde
filminthe 1930sandtheenduringnatureoffilmasanirreplaceablemediumof
artisticexpression.
Chrissielies,curatoroffilmandvideo
PART
II 2 pm
MarieMenken,Notebook, 1962-63.Colorand
black-and-white,silent; 10min.
MarieMenken,GlimpseoftheGarden, 1957;
4min.
Weekday Programs SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 MarieMenken,ArabesqueforKennethAnger, 1961;
Featured Filmmakers 5min.
Dreaming Narratives
BarbaraHammer,Arequipa, 1980.Colorand
pm black-and-white,silent;8min.
1
SaraKathrynArledge,WhatIsaMan?, 1958; JanisCrystalLipzin,PeriodicVibrationsinan
10min. ElasticMedium, 1973-76.Silent; 16min.
MaryEllenBute,PassagesfromFinnegansWake, HollyFisher,TheWildwestSuite,PartIII:Ghost
1967. Black-and-white;97min. Dance, 1980.Silent;25min.
Weekend Programs 3 pm The Answering Furrow
Onweekends, changingprogramsoffilms MayaDeren,MeshesoftheAfternoon, 1943.Black-
byawiderangeofwomenfilmmakers and-white; 14min. 3:30pm
broadenthethemesdrawnoutintheweekly ChickStrand,Elasticity, 1976;21 min. MarjorieKeller,TheAnsweringFurrow, 1985;
screenings. PeggyAhwesh,Nocturne, 1998.Black-and-white; 20min.
30min. AliceAnneParker,AnimalsRunning, 1974. Black-
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5- 4:15 pm and-white; 23min.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 aSnud-Fwriheidtrei,chs,ilGeennt;tl1y4Dmoiwnn.theStream, 1981.Black- B7a7bmeitnte.Mangolte,TheSkyonLocation, 1982;
Featured Filmmaker: Mary Ellen Bute AmieSiegel,TheSleepers, 1999;45min.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 7
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12- Invisible Light
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
pm
1
Featured Filmmaker: Marie Menken JeanneLiotta,CeriNestPas, 1997. Black-and-
white,silent;7min.
Sidewalks, 1966.Black-and-white,silent;7min.
LouiseBourque,Fissures, 1999;2min.
Wrestling, 1964.Black-and-white,silent;8min.
JennyPerlin,LostTreasures, 1999;3min.
Notebook, 1962-63.Colorandblack-and-white,
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 G5rmetma.Snider,Flight, 1996. Black-and-white,silent;
Film Abstractions JeanneLiotta,Muktikara, 1999.Colorandblack-
and-white,silent; 11 min.
pm
1 StormDeHirsch,SingLotus, 1966; 14min.
AlexanderAlexeieffandClaireParker.Fivepin-
screenfilms, 1933-80. Black-and-white;27min. 2 pm
MaryEllenBute.SynchronyNo.2, 1935.Black-and- DonnaCameron,Fauve, 1991.Paperfilm; 10min.
white;6min. ChickStrand,Water/all, 1969;3min.
GretaSnider.Flight, 1996. Black-and-white; 5min. JoyceWieland,HandTinting, 1967.Silent;6min.
DonnaCameron,Fauve, 1991.Paperfilm; 10min. GunvorNelson,FrameLine, 1984.Black-and-
white;22min.
MaryEllenBute,MoodContrasts, 1953;7min.
AmyKravitz,TheTrap, 1988.Black-and-white; JenniferReeves,WeAreGoingHome, 1998;
10min.
5min.
3 pm LeeKrist.StillfromWflla,1998 Hand-Processed Cinema:
SaraKathrynArledge,InteriorGarden, 1978; Big Films by Lee Krist
7min. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
DorisChase,Squares(Kleinsinger^, 1973;8min. Cinema Concret 3 pm
Willa, 1998. Black-and-white, 100feet
BeverlyConradwithTonyConrad,Straightand
Narrow, 1970.Black-and-white; 10min. Noon Self-Portrait, 1999.Black-and-white,50feet
DianaBarrie,MagicExplained, 1980. Silent; MarieMenken,Wrestling, 1964. Black-and-white, Twoness, 1998.35mmfilm,black-and-white,
4min. silent;8min. silent,200feet
ChickStrand,AngelBlueSweetWings, 1966; JoyceWieland,Catfood, 1967-68.Silent; 13min.
4min. BetteGordon,Noyes, 1976.Silent; 3min. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 9-
StormDeHirsch,ThirdEyeButterfly, 1968.Dual- JanisCrystalLipzin,L.A.Carwash, 1975;9min. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
screenfilm; 10min.
JacalynL.WhitewithDougDunderdale,Cetology, Featured Filmmaker: Yoko Ono
1977.Black-and-white; 12min.
MarieMenken,Sidewalks, 1966. Black-and-white,
silent; 7min.
MarieMenken,GoGoGo, 1962-64.Silent; 12min.
HollyFisher,SoftShoe, 1987;20min.
pm SUNDAY, OCTOBER
1 1
MarjorieKeller,DaughtersofChaos. 1980;20min.
pm
1
Aabnidg-awihlitCeh;il8d.miConv.ertAction(Part4), 1984.Black- ChickStrand.Guacamole, 1976; 10min.
SallieFuchs,ItScaresMetoFee!ThisWay, 1987. DanaPlays.AcrosstheBorder, 1982;8min.
Black-and-white; 11 min. ChickStrand,MujerdeMilfuegos, 1976; 14min.
PeggyAhwesh.TheVisionMachine, 1997.Color 2 pm
andblack-and-white;20min. SharonCouzin,DeutschlandSpiegel, 1980; 12min.
2 pm ChickStrand,Kristallnacht, 1979.Black-and-white;
LanaLin,StrangerBaby, 1995.Black-and-white; 7min.
14min.
GunvorNelson,BeforeNeedRedressed, 1995;
SuFriedrich,SinkorSwim, 1990.Black-and-white; 42min.
48min.
YokoOno,StillfromFly,1971 3:30pm The Overflow ofEcstasy into Speech
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 GunvorNelson,TimeBeing, 1991.Black-and- 3:30pm
white,silent; 8min.
The Body Politic LeslieThornton,X-Tracts. 1975. Black-and-white;
GunvorNelson,RedShift. 1984. Black-and-white; 9min.
pm 50min.
1 LeslieThornton,AllRightYouGuys, 1976.Black-
YokoOno,Fly, 1971;25min. 4:30pm and-white; 16min.
AmyGreenfield.Dirt, 1971; 3min. AbigailChild.Mutiny(Part3), 1982-83; 10min. LeslieThornton,TheGreatInvisible,work-in-
YokoOno,Freedom, 1971;3min. PeggyAhwesh.Martina'sPlayhouse, 1989.Super8 progress;60min.
film;20min.
2 pm
NinaFonoroff,AccursedMazurka, 1994;40min.
SuFriedrich,ScarTissue, 1979.Black-and-white,
silent;7min.
AmyTaubin,Like, 1975.Black-and-white; 3min. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26-
AmyTaubin,intheBag, 1981;20min. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
LynneSachs,FollowingtheObjecttoItsLogical Featured Filmmaker: Chick Strand
Beginning, 1987;9min.
BetteGordon,Exchanges, 1979; 15min.
Desire
3 pm SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
CaroleeSchneemann,Fuses, 1964-68.Silent; pm JenniferReevesandM.M.Serra.StillfromDarling/nternurioTujI.1999
22min. 1
AnitaThacher,PermanentWave, 1966;3min. AbigailChild,Peripeteia1, 1977.Silent;9min. CuratedbyChrissielies,curatoroffilmandvideo.
AbigailChild,Peripeteia2, 1978.Silent; 12min. AssistedbyNathalieDubuc.formerseniorcuratorial
PeggyAhwesh,TheColorofLove, 1994; 10min. AbigailChild,Ornamentals, 1979.Silent; 10min. assistant,filmandvideo,andGenevieveYue.
ChickStrand,FeverDream, 1979. Black-and-white;
7min. ChickStrand,LooseEnds, 1979.Black-and-white;
M.M.Serra,justforYouGirls!, 1998;2min. 24min. YmoakjoorOrneot'rsosfpielcmtsivaereYsEcSreYeOneKdOinONcoOnjautnctthieoJnapwainthSotchieety.
Awbhiigtaei;l1C7himlidn,.Mayhem(Part6), 1987.Black-and- H2epatmherMcAdams,WeHopeYouEnjoyThisFilm, NseevweraYlorlke,adoipnegnimnugseonumOsctionbeNror1t8h.A2m00e0r.icaandthtroouurgihngto
1979. Black-and-white;4min. 2002.
JenniferReevesandM.M.Serra,Darling
International, 1999.Black-and-white;22min. JulieMurray,FuckFace, 1986.Super8film; ScreeningsintheKaufmanAstoriaStudiosFilm&Video
10min. Galleryarefreewiththepriceofgeneraladmissionto
BInatrebravraalRubin,ChristmasonEarth, 1963. bHleaactkh-earndM-cwhAidtaem;s4,mBilna.ckCoffee, 1985.Colorand Atfsohrteo$Wr5ih.aitStnuedyioMsuFsielumm.&AViodneeo-GdaalyleprayssontolythiseaKvaaiulfamblaen
Tworeels,superimposedononescreen,black- BettyFerguson,TelephoneFilm, 1972; 14min.
and-white,soundonaudiocassette;29min. 3 pm Twhwiws.wshcirteneenyi.ngorsgc.heduleisalsoavailableonourwebsite.
ChickStrand,Elasticity, 1976;21 min. ©2000WhitneyMuseumofAmericanArt
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
ChickStrand,SoftFiction, 1979. Black-and-white;
What Do Women Want? 54min.
LUHITNEV
Noon
GunvorNelson,MyNameIsOona, 1969. Black- WhitneyMuseumofAmericanArt
and-white; 10min.
945MadisonAvenueat75thStreet
RosaUndSchneider,AndreaActingOut, 1974; NewYork,NY 10021
12min. www.whitney.org
PeggyAhwesh,TheScaryMovie, 1993.Black-and- GeneralInformation:[212)570-3676
white;9min.
MarjorieKeller,TheWeb. 1977.Standard8mm
film,silent; 10min.
LeslieThornton.Jennifer,WhereAreYou?, 1981;
10min.
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