Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 8pm
No Idle Hands
Curated by Sabrina Gschwandtner
Handcraft--absorbing, obsessive, mysterious, political, communal and mythical--is the subject of these documentaries, which range from exhaustively researched to casually recorded and even imagined.
Works include:
Kusama’s Self-Obliteration, Yayoi Kusama/Jud Yalkut, 16mm, 1964, 24 mins
The film was conceived as a portrait of the Yayoi Kusama and her work of two decades, and a progressively involving and engrossing experience that could possibly project the viewer into the screen.
When This You See..., Elaine Reichek, video, 1998, 17 mins
Nine appropriated film clips from sources such as Heavenly Creatures (1994) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) show women stitching. Each segment reveals a dramatic moment in the movie's story, and then ends with a freeze-frame over which the artist superimposes a single word, cataloging the act ("betrayal," "revolution," “revenge,” etc) each woman’s handcraft symbolizes.
Odd Fellows, Alee Peoples, Super-8 to video, 2006, 5 mins
A short documentary on the Odd Fellows, a fraternal order begun in England as an offshoot of the Masons.
Paracas, Cecilia Vicuña, 16mm to video, 1993, 18 mins
Conceived as a visual and sound poem in seven scenes, this animation of a 2,000 year-old textile now in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum invites entrance into a different visual and sonic space. The textile, interpreted here as a celebration of the Thread of Life, was constructed in a sculptural, three-dimensional looping technique developed by the ancient artists of the Paracas/Nazca region of Peru.
Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY Art, Craft and Design, Faythe Levine, video, 20 mins (excerpt from the feature film to be released 2009)
A documentary exploring the rise of DIY art, craft, and design in the United States. The heart of this new wave of creativity is the community, which is equally influenced by traditional handiwork, modern aesthetics, politics, feminism and art.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Faythe Levine, Elaine Reichek and Cecilia Vicuña.
Edibles will be available from Sweet Tooth of the Tiger, a renegade bakery project that explores a nostalgia for the bake sale through the performance of social engagement over sugary confections.
Tickets - $6, available at door.