Saturday, September 14, 2013 at 7:30pm
Asco's No Movies: Glitter and Gangrene
155 Freeman Street, Brooklyn
A lecture by C. Ondine Chavoya
This talk explores the origins and influence of the No Movie, an intermedia genre pioneered by the LA-based artist collective Asco in the early 1970s. The No Movie was Asco's signature invented medium of a cinema by other means: conceptual performances that invoked cinematic codes but were created for a still camera. No Movies were staged events in which artists played the parts of films stars and disseminated the imagery as stills from authentic Chicano motion pictures. In addition to these materials advertising films that had no other existence, the No Movie idea was more broadly applied by Asco to encompass additional forms—performance documentation, published interviews, mail art, media hoaxes—allowing them to forgo the cinematic apparatus but still engage with cinematic discourse. My presentation showcases the group’s innovative conceptual art practices and highlights their important play with masquerade and glamour through camp impersonation and thrift-store chic. - COV
C. Ondine Chavoya is an Associate Professor of Art History and chair of Latina/o Studies at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he teaches courses on contemporary art and visual culture. He is the author of numerous texts on Chicano avant-garde art, video, experimental cinema, and social space in southern California. He co-organized Asco: Elite of the Obscure, A Retrospective, 1972-1987, the first museum retrospective to present the wide-ranging work of the performance and conceptual art group Asco, which premiered at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in fall 2011.
FREE
Please note: seating is limited. First-come, first-served. Box office opens at 7pm.