Oct 11 – Stephen Varble: Journey to the Sun
Presented by David Getsy In the 1970s, Manhattan-based artist Stephen Varble gained infamy for his gender-confounding costume performances and anti-commercial disruptions of galleries, banks, and boutiques. He retreated from public view in 1978, focusing instead on an epic, unfinished video, Journey to the Sun, until his death in 1984. Ribald, complex, and unorthodox, the video […]
On Steffani Jemison
Spanning performance, music, video, and installation, the work of Brooklyn-based artist Steffani Jemison draws upon Black vernacular culture to produce new modes of expression. In advance of Jemison’s screening and listening session at Conversations at the Edge tomorrow, which also coincides the artist’s solo exhibition at Iceberg Projects, we have invited Sampada Aranke, Assistant Professor […]
Oct 4 – Steffani Jemison: Sensus Plenior
Steffani Jemison in person Taking shape through performance, music, video, and installation, the work of Steffani Jemison (MFA 2009) draws upon Black vernacular culture to produce new modes of expression and models for community. She presents a selection of audio works alongside her latest video, Sensus Plenior (2017). Taking its title from Latin for “fuller meaning,” Sensus […]
On Margaret Tait
At the shady foot of trees Certain things grow, But at the foot of stone grow the sun-loving wind–resisting short plants With very small bright flowers And compact, precise leaves. The wind whips the tight stems into a vibration, But they don’t break. — Margaret Tait, excerpt from The […]
Sep 27 – Margaret Tait: Poems and Portraits
Scottish film-poet Margaret Tait produced an exquisite body of work combining poetry, portraiture, music, ethnography, and animation. She studied filmmaking in Rome during the height of Italian neorealism before returning to her native Scotland in the early 1950s where she found inspiration in the contrasting daily rhythms of Edinburgh and the Orkney Islands. In an […]
An Interview with Camilo Restrepo
Coinciding with Camilo Restrepo’s visit to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, SAIC alum and Gene Siskel Film Center Panorama Latinx Outreach Coordinator Mev Luna exchanged a few questions with the artist about sound, performance, and process. While visiting Chicago, Camilo Restrepo mentioned that “luck is something you push, until it arrives.” Restrepo […]
Sep 20 – Camilo Restrepo: Ghosts and Songs
Camilo Restrepo in person In recent years, award-winning Colombian filmmaker Camilo Restrepo has gained a reputation for striking explorations of personal and political trauma, survival, and resistance. Featuring Réunion Island singer Christine Salem, Cilaos (2016) uses the incendiary rhythms of maloya, ritual music derived from slave songs, to tell the story of a woman driven to meet […]
On Stan VanDerBeek
Conversations at the Edge opens its Fall 2018 season this week with a program surveying the career of pioneering American media artist Stan VanDerBeek. Focusing on VanDerBeek’s computer graphics films, this program also coincides with an exhibition of the artist’s work at DOCUMENT. For this post, we welcome SAIC student Sophie Jenkins (Dual MA, 2020), […]
Sep 13 – Stan VanDerBeek: Euclidean Illusions
Johannes VanDerBeek of the VanDerBeek Archive in person The visionary work of media artist Stan VanDerBeek spanned film, interactive television, expanded cinema, and computer animation. Introduced by Johannes VanDerBeek of the VanDerBeek Archive, this program focuses on his computer films, screening in newly preserved 16mm prints. VanDerBeek began experimenting with computers in the mid-1960s, as […]
ANNOUNCING CATE FALL 2018
We’re thrilled to announce our Fall 2018 schedule! The season begins on September 13 with Stan VanDerBeek: Euclidean Illusions, presented in collaboration with Document Gallery. Additional programs include Camilo Restrepo: Ghosts and Songs on September 20; Margaret Tait: Poems and Portraits on September 27; Steffani Jemison: Sensus Plenior on October 4; Stephen Varble’s Journey to the […]
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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.
