On Jennifer Reeder…
Posted by | George William Price | Posted on | September 24, 2014
I’m delighted to publish SAIC graduate student Cassie Carpenter’s short text on why she, as a woman who traces her roots to the Midwest, is so excited to see Jennifer Reeder’s work at Conversation at the Edge (CATE) this week.
Still from A Million Miles Away (Jennifer Reeder, 2014). Courtesy of the artist.
Regional identity has always been somewhat of a challenge for me. I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but spent my formative years in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. While I spent twelve years on the East coast, I felt strongly tied to my Midwestern roots. There is something about life here that is complex in its assumed simplicity, an attribute that tethered me to the Midwest. Since my return to “the heartland”, I have immersed myself in the narratives that construct the ethos of the region. In my search, I’ve found that the heartfelt tales of honest hard work and pulling one’s self up by one’s own bootstraps only scratch the surface of the Midwest landscape.
This is why I am excited to see Jennifer Reeder’s A Million Miles Away (2013) as part of her show at CATE this week. The film peers into the lives of adolescent girls in small town Ohio and explores some of the complexities of coming-of-age in such an environment. I’m interested to see the ways in which she engages her narrative craftsmanship to expose the volatile moment of entering adulthood in a place fraught with failures but determined to survive them. Similarly, my own search to understand my connection to the Midwest has been integral to my embrace of adulthood. The opportunity to explore that experience through Reeder’s lens is thrilling.
Cassie Carpenter is a third year, dual-degree graduate candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Having roots in both Milwaukee and Philadelphia, she brings a diverse set of values to her professional career. Her unique perspective has contributed to projects at the Chicago Cultural Center, the Evanston Art Center, Miller Beach Arts and Creative District, and the Sullivan Galleries.
September 25 – Jennifer Reeder: A Million Miles Away
Posted by | Conversations at the Edge | Posted on | September 21, 2014
Thursday, September 25 | Jennifer Reeder in person!
Still from A Million Miles Away (Jennifer Reeder, 2014). Courtesy of the artist.
Jennifer Reeder’s pop-noir films explore women’s experiences in breakups, breakdowns, and new beginnings. The award-winning Chicago artist presents four recent shorts and a preview of her latest project, Blood Below the Skin. A Million Miles Away (2014) listens in on the bedroom conversations of teenage girls as they forge bonds over absent parents and bad friends. The discovery of a teenage girl’s dead body sets the tone for the Forevering Trilogy (Seven Songs About Thunder, 2010; Tears Cannot Restore Her: Therefore I Weep, 2010; and I Will Rise If Only to Hold You Down, 2011).
2010-14, USA, multiple formats, ca 90 minutes + discussion
Jennifer Reeder (b. 1971, Columbus, Ohio) is a filmmaker and visual artist who produces Midwestern stories about relationships, trauma, and coping. Since 1993, she has produced more than 40 films and videos and written 12 scripts. Her work has been exhibited around the world including at the 48th International Venice Biennial, the 2000 Whitney Biennial, the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, the Reykjavik Museum of Art, and La Casa Encendida in Madrid, in addition to many film festivals, including Ann Arbor, Oberhausen International Short Film, Rotterdam, and Stuttgart FilmWinter. She recently founded a social justice initiative called Tracers Book Club and is finishing a feature-length script titled As With Knives and Skin. Reeder received an MFA from SAIC and currently heads the Art Department in the School of Art and Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she is an Associate Professor in Moving Image. She lives in Indiana with her three children.
Tags: 2014 > Artist's Film > Chicago > Feminist > Jennifer Reeder > Midwest > Monographic Shows > SAIC Alumni
On Jonathan Monaghan…
Posted by | George William Price | Posted on | September 16, 2014
This season we are commissioning original content from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago student body inspired by and about the many exciting artists we will be showcasing. Over the course of the season we will be publishing short texts on each artist’s practice written by students from across SAIC. Many of these students will also be interviewing our artists for this very blog—so remember to check back throughout the Fall season!
Still from Alien Fanfare (Jonathan Monaghan, 2014). Courtesy of the artist.
As CATE’s program assistant I wanted to get the ball rolling with some thoughts on this week’s artist: Jonathan Monaghan.
I first encountered Jonathan Monaghan’s work online and was thrilled to find out we would be programming him at CATE. Characterized by bizarre characters, themes, and styles, his animated films are unpredictable and evocative. I’m often left thinking about them long after the last frame.
I’m particularly drawn to his films Dauphin (2011) and Rainbow Narcosis (2013). Monaghan describes Dauphin as a work “where meanings don’t quite materialize.” It features a stately lion who encounters a guillotine and an MRI machine, polar bears (characters he has used in previous animations), and tiny people who seem to be filming the entire thing from the background.
September 18 – Jonathan Monaghan: Alien Fanfare
Posted by | Conversations at the Edge | Posted on | September 15, 2014
Thursday, September 18 | Jonathan Monaghan in person!
Still from Mothership (Jonathan Monaghan, 2013). Courtesy of the artist.
Seamlessly melding imagery from art history, mainstream video games, and contemporary advertising, Jonathan Monaghan’s videos are surreal explorations of power, value, and the role of technology. The artist, whose work takes shape through glossy animated videos, virtual environments, and 3D printing, presents a selection of his latest videos, a special preview of an untitled work-in-progress, and a behind-the scenes look at the technology and research that informs his practice. At the center of the program are the science-fiction inspired shorts Alien Fanfare (2014) and Mothership (2013), each of which welcomes viewers aboard vast, dreamlike spacecraft assembled from luxury brands, fleshy tissue, and Baroque architecture.
2008-14, USA, multiple formats, 70 minutes + discussion
Jonathan Monaghan (b.1986, New York) creates sculpture and animated video installations that challenge the boundaries between the real, imagined, and virtual. He received his BFA from the New York Institute of Technology in 2008 and his MFA from the University of Maryland in 2011. Monaghan’s work has been exhibited worldwide in venues such as Bitforms Gallery in New York; BFI Southbank in London; Eyebeam Art & Technology Center; the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC; and most recently in State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. He has given lectures and workshops at the Glasgow School of Art, University of Denver, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in 2011 was invited by the US State Department to discuss his work in Bahrain. He currently lives and works in Washington, DC.
Jonathan Monaghan Program Notes
CATE Fall Season 2014
Posted by | Conversations at the Edge | Posted on | August 27, 2014
Still from Nefandus (Carlos Motta, 2013). Courtesy of the artist.
It’s George, CATE’s program assistant here. I’m so excited to share our Fall 2014 line up! We have some incredible practitioners from all over the globe, representing so many varied practices.
Some of my favorites include the British filmmaking legend John Smith and his deadpan absurdity; Carlos Motta for his poetic investigations of non-Western Queer histories; and the program The X-Ray of Civilization, an exploration of downtown NYC during a time of plague.
Still from Haze and Fog (Cao Fei, 2013). Courtesy of the artist.
We’re also hosting Chinese artist Cao Fei, French filmmaker Mati Diop, award-winning Chicago maker Jennifer Reeder, and mischievous media maker and curator Andrew Lampert, in addition to a program on the late Chicago video maker and visionary Anda Korsts. Check out the entire season here.
This season is utterly multifaceted, yet totally complimentary. So come shelter yourself from the dark nights – be that just for an evening or the entire season – at the Gene Siskel Film Center. CATE kicks off Thursday, September 18.
Still from A Thousand Suns (Mati Diop, 2013). Courtesy of the artist.
Coming soon: CATE Fall 2014 Season
Posted by | Conversations at the Edge | Posted on | August 6, 2014
Still from The Girl Chewing Gum (John Smith, 1976). Courtesy of the artist.
Remember to keep your eyes peeled for the launch of our Fall 2014 Season. This season promises to be one of our most exciting to date with a fantastic selection of programming varying from some of the heaviest hitters to those working on the cutting edge of the moving image field.
April 24 – Basma Alsharif: Doppelgänging
Posted by | George William Price | Posted on | April 17, 2014
Thursday, April 24 | Basma Alsharif in person!
Still from Deep Sleep (Basma Alsharif, 2014). Courtesy of the artist.
Basma Alsharif’s sharp, seductive films have often been informed by Palestine’s history, its contemporary political situation, and the conflicted experiences of those who call it home (whether or not they live there). She returns to CATE with a collection of recent films that explore bilocation—the act of being in multiple places at once—a state of being she uses to describe Palestinian identity, as well as cinema itself. The program offers the possibility of bilocating through the visceral experience of drone-glitched TV and teenage cello lessons in Home Movies Gaza (2013); a rhyming exercise in the Panathenaic Stadium in Girls Only (2014); a stroboscopic oral history in Farther Than the Eye Can See (2012); and a hypnosis-inducing pan-geographic shuttle in Deep Sleep (2014), a film/performance. Presented in collaboration with the Video Data Bank.
2012-14, Gaza Strip/Greece/Malta/United Arab Emirates, Mulitiple Formats, 60 minutes + discussion
Basma Alsharif is a visual artist using moving and still images, sound, and language, to explore the anonymous individual in relation to political history and collective memory. She received an MFA from the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois, Chicago in 2007 and has been working in Cairo, Beirut, and Amman since then.
Her work has shown in exhibitions and film festivals internationally including the 17th SESC Videobrasil, Forum Expanded: Berlinale, Images Festival Ontario where she received the Marion McMahon Award, Manifesta 8 The Region of Murcia, The Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, The 9th Edition of the Sharjah Bienniale where she received a jury prize for her work, the Toronto International Film Festival, and she was awarded the Fundación Marcelino Botín Visual Arts Grant in 2009-2010.
Tags: 2014 > Artist's Film > Basma Alsharif > Diaspora > Middle East > Monographic Shows > Palestine > Performance > Video Data Bank
April 17 – Thom Andersen: Reconversão
Posted by | George William Price | Posted on | April 11, 2014
Thursday, April 17 | Tom Andersen in person!
Still from Reconversão (Thom Andersen, 2012). Courtesy of the artist.
A master of the essay film, Thom Andersen turns his attention to the work of the Pritzker Prize–winning Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura. Considering built, unrealized, and abandoned projects and using a stop-motion technique that emphasizes the temporal dimension of architecture, Reconversão (2012) regards buildings not as static objects but living things, subject to decay, death, and even rebirth. (Museum of the Moving Image)
2012, Portugal/USA, Digital Video, 65 minutes + discussion
Thom Andersen (b. 1943, Chicago) is a filmmaker, curator, and scholar based in Los Angeles where he currently teaches film composition at the California Institute of the Arts. Anderson has made numerous short films including Melting (1965), Olivia’s Place (1966) and — ——- (1967, in collaboration with Malcolm Brodwick). In 2003 he completed Los Angeles Plays Itself, a videotape about the representation of Los Angeles in movies.
Tags: 2014 > Architecture > Eduardo Souto de Moura > Essay > Los Angeles > Monographic Shows > Portait > The Built Environment > Thom Andersen > U.S.
Interview with Sven Augustijnen
Posted by | George William Price | Posted on | April 10, 2014
Filmmaker Sven Augustijnen sat down with CATE Program Assistant George William Price to discuss his multifaceted artistic practice within the context of his film “Spectres”, screened at CATE on April 4, 2014.
Augustijnen’s work concentrates on the tradition of portraiture and the porous boundaries between fiction and reality, using a hybrid of genres and techniques to interrogate how contemporary reality is constructed through various fictions and narratives.
“Spectres” (2011) focuses a critical eye on the official account of the murder of Patrice Lumumba, the Congo’s first elected Prime Minister post European colonial rule.
George William Price: What drew you to this particular project? Why do you feel it was important to investigate this set of histories within Spectres?
Sven Augustijnen: My practice comes mainly from observations. I live in Brussels, a town that is very marked by its colonial history and I feel interested in the public space and what’s going on there — the people etcetera.
Somehow the project came to me, although I knew it was impossible. That you shouldn’t do this, you know, there is an attraction also to this project.
Still from Spectres (2011, Sven Augustijnen). Courtesy of the artist and Auguste Orts.
Tags: 2014 > Africa > Belgium > Interview > Monographic Shows > Spectres > Sven Augustijnen
April 10 – Everything is Terrible! Doggie Woggiez and More
Posted by | George William Price | Posted on | April 3, 2014
Thursday, April 10 | Commodore Gilgamesh and Ghoul Skool in person!
Courtesy of EIT!
“If everything is terrible, then nothing is” is the motto of this filmmaking collective, whose pseudonym-loving members make rapid-fire mash-ups from VHS tapes found in thrift stores—forgotten children’s shows, religious sermons, no-budget monster movies—to explore the weirdest corners of the American psyche. Leaving little time for reflection, only total submission, its cinema is a kind of psychedelic food poisoning, equally abrasive and hilarious and, in the end, oddly affectionate toward its varied subjects. Everything is Terrible!presents several shorts and its feature-length masterwork Doggie Woggiez! Poochie Woochiez! (2012)—a remake of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountainwith a cast of cinematic canines.
2012-14, USA, Digital Video, 80 minutes + discussion
Founded in 2006, Everything is Terrible! (EIT!) is an anonymous video collective dedicated to unearthing the best and worst ever committed to VHS. EIT! mines thrift stores and bargain bins for old VHS tapes and gives them new life in video compilations, live shows, and the group’s website. EIT!’s work has been hailed by Wired, Time, The Onion, Chicago Tribune, NPR’s All Things Considered, BoingBoing, Buzzfeed, Videogum, Paste, and Jezebel.
Tags: 2014 > Chicago > Commodore Gilgamesh > Experimental > Ghoul Skool > Los Angeles > Mash-Up > New York City > VHS > YouTube
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.
