Matías Piñeiro's Keep Your Archive to Yourself!
Tuesday, November 17, 2026 at 7pm
Light Industry, 361 Stagg Street, Suite 407, Brooklyn
This lecture-performance presents itself as the B-side to the artist book From where do you start when drawing a flower?, which I wrote and have just published with Fireflies Press and Batalha Centro de Cinema, co-edited with curator Garbiñe Ortega, and designed by filmmaker Catarina Vasconcelos.
The book describes the transformation of my process over the last 20 years, with a particular focus on the materials involved, from the more or less conventional script of my first feature, The Stolen Man (2007), to the 25-meter scroll used to make You Burn Me (2024).
One day, with a dreadful deadline looming, I was told by one of the editors: “Even if you cut it, Matías, it still remains.” I was struck by that line, not entirely understanding whether it was meant literally or simply as a way to convince me. Fortunately, I held on to the surprise it produced in me and decided to trust them.
This lecture-performance will reveal some of the behind-the-scenes process of making the book, and how making a book can be a lot like making a film. It will also bring to light materials that were, at one point, crucial parts of the book but that, in the end were left behind as the book found its own language.
These discarded materials tell multiple stories. They stand on their own as objects. They hold a personal connection to my work and to myself, while also containing the story of their own limitations and rejection from the publication. These materials include lessons from other filmmakers, pornographic watercolors, a math exam from 1994, photographic portraits from my film school years, notebook scraps, sketches of the structure of my first feature, doodles, and plenty of index cards. What is left out also stays.
Keep Your Archive to Yourself! is a humorous yet profound appreciation of the process of making a book, listening to recommendations and reining in your ego. The book will be available for purchase and signing, and perhaps there will be some watercoloring, too.
The event will conclude with a screening of short films that are important to me by Joan Rosenfeld, Norman McLaren, Walt Disney, and Les Blank, all from the Pratt Institute Library 16mm archive.
- MP
FREE
Please note: seating is limited. First-come, first-served, except for members subscribed at $8/month or more, who may reserve a seat by emailing information@lightindustry.org at least two hours prior to showtime. Box office opens at 6:30pm. No entry 10 minutes after start of show.