. Conversations at the Edge (CATE)

Announcing Fall 2021

The Fall 2021 season of Conversations at the Edge starts Thursday, September 23! Join us for theatrical screenings, virtual artist talks, and virtual screenings! All programs take place at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and on the Film Center’s virtual cinema platform. More info at saic.edu/cate. […]

Feb 13 – Lori Felker: Intrusions and Interruptions

Lori Felker in person Known for genre-bending explorations of human relationships, award-winning filmmaker Lori Felker (MFA 2007) debuts a collection of slippery, semiautobiographical tales of motherhood, miscarriages, and missing people. In Spontaneous (2020) she charts the loss of her pregnancy during the Slamdance Film Festival premiere of her short Discontinuity (2016), highlighting the chasm between her body’s slow-moving […]

Spring 2020 Season Announcement

We’re pleased to announce the Spring 2020 season of Conversations at the Edge! We have a spectacular program lined up, including appearances by media artists  Vaginal Davis (Feb 6); Lori Felker (Feb 13); Linda Mary Montano (Feb 27); Mariah Garnett (March 5); Beatrice Gibson (March 12); Ian Cheng (March 24), and Wong Ping (April 9), […]

That’s A Wrap! – Fall 2019

Thank you for joining us for our Fall 2019 season! See you in January 2020!                    

October 31 – Shengze Zhu: Present.Perfect.

Shengze Zhu in person Award-winning filmmaker Shengze Zhu (MFA 2017) is celebrated for her incisive portraits of everyday life in China. Her latest film, Present.Perfect., spotlights the country’s explosive livestreaming phenomenon. Collaged from more than 800 hours of footage from “anchors” who share their lives with a virtual community, the film eschews the medium’s stars to […]

October 10 – Zach Blas: Obedient x3

 Zach Blas in person Wry and provocative, the work of multidisciplinary artist Zach Blas (Post-Bac 2006) examines technologies of social control through the lens of queer and feminist politics. In recent years, his projects have addressed biometric capture, microdosing, the hegemony of the Internet, and sex toys. Blas presents a suite of these projects, including the Chicago premiere of Contra-Internet: Jubilee 2033 (2018). Using Derek Jarman’s […]

September 26 – Selina Trepp: I Work With What I Have

Selina Trepp, Tomeka Reid, Jason Roebke, Dan Bitney in person Informed by ideas of improvisation, collaboration, and flux, Chicago-based artist Selina Trepp (BFA 1998) produces exuberant works from radically limited means. Since 2012, she has refrained from bringing new materials into her practice, instead recycling past artworks and remnants into each new project. Her animated […]

April 6 – Melika Bass: Devotional Animals

Richly atmospheric, the films and installations of Chicago-based artist Melika Bass (MFA 2007) are populated by elusive figures whose enigmatic behavior suggest dark and troubling lives just beyond the screen. Working with a recurring group of performers, some of whom reappear as the same character in multiple films, Bass has developed an expansive approach to […]

On Deborah Stratman

This week I am excited to welcome undergraduate Connor Crable to write for us! Crable sharply discusses Deborah Stratman’s newest film, The Illinois Parables, which deals with a series of histories that have been buried over time.  In just short of an hour, Deborah Stratman’s newest film, The Illinois Parables, ushers viewers through a series of […]

March 17-shawné michaelain holloway: Extreme Submission

Thursday, March 17 | Join us to welcome dirty new media performance artist shawné michaelain holloway for a screening and discussion! In the last four years, Paris-based dirty new media performance artist shawné michaelain holloway has established herself as one of the most significant voices online. Her rhizomatic projects explore intimacy, power dynamics, and the technologies that […]

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