On Mati Diop
For the final installment of our SAIC student writing series, Natalia De Orellana examines the boundaries between documentary and fiction in Mati Diop’s A Thousand Suns. She suggests that Diop creates a world where imagination and reality intermingle. Even as tougher immigration laws are proposed by European leaders–jeopardizing the long-gone fantasy of free movement–immigration has remained one of the principal worldwide […]
Special Preview: John Smith interviewed for Video Data Bank
A special preview of John Smith’s interview for Video Data Bank’s (VDB) ever growing On Art and Artists Collection, due for release late Spring 2015. In this interview excerpt Smith discusses, with VDB’s director Abina Manning, his film Shepherd’s Delight a film largely concerned with how context determines the reading of information. The Jarman Award winning artist presented his […]
Nov 13 – Mati Diop: A Thousand Suns
Thursday, November 13th | Mati Diop in person! Known for dreamlike shorts that experiment with the boundaries between documentary and fiction, award-winning French filmmaker Mati Diop mined her own history for A Thousand Suns. The film explores the public and private legacies of the seminal Senegalese film Touki Bouki (1972), directed by her uncle Djibril Diop Mambéty. She focuses […]
An Interview with Andrew Lampert
Andrew Lampert sits down with SAIC graduate student Elizabeth Metcalfe to talk about his interest in archiving, current inspirations, and his unique approach to improvisation. Lampert joined CATE on October 9th 2014 and turned his attention to the Gene Siskel Film Center in a site-specific performance created especially for the evening. The performance was accompanied […]
On “The X-Ray of Civilization…”
I first encountered the work of David Wojnarowicz a few years ago whilst interning for the New York City based arts organization Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI). I had been asked to research his expansive practice for an upcoming panel discussion David Wojnarowicz: Motion Rhythms and was instructed that I would need to visit Fales Library […]
Nov 6 – The X-Ray of Civilization: Films by Tom Rubnitz, David Wojnarowicz, and Tommy Turner
Thursday, November 6th | Introduced by Marvin J. Taylor, Director of Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University and founder of the Downtown collection The Culture Wars and devastation of the AIDS epidemic contributed to a cultural scene in 1980s New York that crackled with tension and ached with sadness. Against this background, artists Tom Rubnitz, […]
Special Preview: Carlos Motta interviewed for Video Data Bank
We are excited to present a short excerpt of Carlos Motta’s interview for Video Data Bank‘s On Art and Artists Collection, conducted by SAIC’s Art History Chair David Getsy. In this compelling interview Motta discusses his rich practice, major influences, and Queer and Trans theory in relation to contemporary artistic practices. The full interview is scheduled for […]
October 16 – An Evening with John Smith
Thursday, October 16th | John Smith in person! In his playful and thought-provoking short films and videos, UK filmmaker John Smith explores the language of cinema and reflects on the image’s role in politics, war, and the global economy. The 2013 Jarman Award winner presents a selection from across his 40-year career, including the seminal The Girl Chewing […]
On Carlos Motta…
This week SAIC graduate student Charles Rice writes about how he has drawn inspiration from Carlos Motta’s work in order to develop a practice informed by abandonment, autobiography and memory. My own artistic practice is centered on my own (queer) body and how I may establish a narrative that acknowledges my own lived histories. I […]
October 2 – Carlos Motta: The Nefandus Trilogy
Thursday, October 2nd | Carlos Motta in person! Carlos Motta’s practice draws upon various political histories in an attempt to articulate counter narratives that recognize suppressed histories, communities, and identities. Composed of the three films Nefandus, Shipwreck (Naufragios) and The Defeated (La visión de los vencidos) his 2013 Nefandus Trilogy is a haunting examination of pre-Hispanic homoeroticism […]
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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.
