ALL TOGETHER NOW: VIDEOS BY HARRY DODGE & STANYA KAHN
Posted by | Conversations at the Edge | Posted on | October 30, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 6pm | Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn in person!
- Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn, “Can’t Swallow It, Can’t Spit it Out” (2006). Image courtesy of Elizabeth Dee Gallery.
With a biting yet surprisingly tender wit, Los Angeles performance and video artists Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn couch social critique in bizarre, hilarious, and seemingly impromptu scenarios. Collaborating since 2001, their work has been featured in exhibitions and film festivals the world over. “At first glance,” writes critic Jeffrey Kastner, “[their videos] seem like lo-fi screwball sketches, thanks to their improvisational skills, Kahn’s magnetic performances, and Dodge’s keen directorial hand.” Can’t Swallow It, Can’t Spit it Out (2006), featured in the 2008 Whitney Biennial, trails a bloody-nosed modern-day Valkyrie-cum-raconteur as she wanders the streets of L.A. Their 2008 tour de force, All Together Now, imagines a post-apocalyptic scenario where different clans forge their way in an anarchic world. Also featured: Whacker (2005); Let the Good Times Roll (2004); and Winner (2002). 2002–08, USA, multiple formats, ca. 90 min.
HARRIET “HARRY” DODGE was born in San Francisco in 1966. STANYA KAHN was born in San Francisco in 1968. They first met in 1993 in San Francisco, and began collaborating in 2001, when they moved to Los Angeles. In 2003 Dodge and Kahn each received an MFA from Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College, NY. Both have extensive solo careers in performance: Kahn is the creator of the critically-acclaimed performance The Ballad of Crappy and Seapole (According Shempco) (2001); Dodge has appeared in numerous indie films and videos, including John Waters’ Cecil B. Demented; and both artists are featured in Dodge’s 2001 feature By Hook or By Crook, which she wrote and directed with Silas Flipper. Dodge and Kahn’s collaborative work has been exhibited in solo shows at Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, and in numerous group exhibitions, including the Kunstmuseum, Bonn, Germany; Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania; the 2008 Whitney Biennial; The Getty Center, Los Angeles; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Queens, NY; and Art in General, NY; among many others. Their video works have been widely shown in film festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival; NY Underground Film Festival; Mix Festival, NY; London Lesbian/Gay International Film Festival; Los Angeles Film Festival; New Festival, NY; San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival; and the Paris International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
About
Conversations at the Edge is a weekly series of screenings, performances, and talks by groundbreaking media artists.
CATE is organized by SAIC's Department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation in collaboration with the Gene Siskel Film Center and SAIC's Video Data Bank.
Programs take place at the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State / Chicago, IL / 312.846.2600), unless otherwise noted.
