THE FILMS OF AMAR KANWAR
Posted by | Jessica Bardsley | Posted on | November 12, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 6:00 pm | Amar Kanwar in person!
- Image from THE SMILE (Amar Kanwar, 2007). Courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York.
Amar Kanwar’s films and installations offer incisive and meditative explorations of the political, social, economic, and ecological conditions of the Indian subcontinent. They are also formally inventive, synthesizing documentary, travelogue, and essay forms to re-imagine subjects from sexual violence to the political situation in Burma. This evening, Kanwar presents and discusses a range of films from across his vast oeuvre, including new and works-in-progress, selections from the 19-channel installation The Torn First Pages (2004-08), and his widely-esteemed 1997 short, A Season Outside (1997). The film established Kanwar, according to critic Jerry Saltz in the Village Voice, as an artist whose works “escape their own pedantic weight and exist in a lyrical realm where politics, poetry, passion, and form meld.” Amar Kanwar, 1997-2011, India, various formats, ca. 75 min plus discussion.
Co-presented by SAIC’s Visiting Artists Program, the Department of Exhibitions and Exhibition Studies, and the Art Institute of Chicago’s Department of Asian Art.
RELATED EVENT:
Artist Lecture
Wednesday, November 16, 6:00 p.m.
SAIC Columbus Auditorium, 280 S. Columbus Dr.
Visit Visiting Artists Program for details.
AMAR KANWAR (b. 1964, New Delhi, India) is an artist and filmmaker living and working in New Delhi, India. Recent solo exhibitions have been at the Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, NY; Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany; and the Stedilijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. He has participated in Documenta 11 and Documenta 12 in Kassel, Germany and is also the recipient of the 1st Edvard Munch Award for Contemporary Art, Norway and an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts, Maine College of Art, USA. His films are also shown at film festivals where he has received awards like the Golden Gate Award, San Francisco International Film Festival; the Golden Conch, Mumbai International Film Festival; and the Jury’s Award, Film South Asia, Nepal.
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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.
