A fantastic evening of films and festivities—a homage to the female subject and the exultant powers of both self-possession and captivation.
Curated by M.M. Serra
Michelle Handelman, M.M.
(2008) video, color, 3 min
“An homage to one dominating force of the avant-garde film world, Ms. Mary Magdalene herself!”
Silvianna Goldsmith, Nightclub, Memories of Havana in Queens
(1975) 16mm, color & b/w, 5.5 min
Three Latin Dancers in a nightclub in Queens make up, and do a samba, a merengue and an afro-cuban dance. Filmed both tongue-in-cheek with humor and satire at the kitsch aspects, and also seriously as a tribute to the culture’s ancient sensuality. “Another art form (dance) was displayed in Silvianna Goldsmith’s witty NIGHTCLUB.” — Daryl Chin
M.M. Serra, Soi Meme
(1995) 16mm, color, sound, 6 min
Sound composition by Zeena Parkins.
Erotic dance performance by Goddess Rosemary.
Gunvor Nelson, Take Off
(1972) 16mm, b&w/so, 10min. Starring Ellion Ness.
A dance, a documentary, a metaphysical strip tease.
“Ellion Ness, a thoroughly professional stripper, goes through her paces, bares her body, and then, astonishingly and literally, transcends it. While the film makes a forceful political statement on the image of woman and the true meaning of stripping, the intergalactic transcendence of its ending locates it firmly within the mainstream of joyous humanism and stubborn optimism.”
- B. Ruby Rich, Chicago Art Institute
Caroline Koebel, Hole or Space
(2006) 16mm, miniDV & DVD, color & b&w, silent
Pricks, gaps, dots, openings…hole or space takes its cue from contortionists of the early screen in spiraling out from conceptions of the body as whole. The collage film uses early cinema and avant-garde classics as its compositional notes: Luis Martinetti, Contortionist (Edison Manufacturing Company, 1894), Crissie Sheridan Serpentine Dance (Edison, 1897), Ballet Mécanique (Fernand Léger & Dudley Murphy, 1924), An Optical Poem (Oskar Fischinger, 1938), Tarantella (Mary E. Bute & Ted Nemeth, 1940).
Tessa Hughes-Freeland, Watch Out! (Premier!)
Experimental film, 3 minutes
A lighthearted poetic comment which addresses concepts of male voyeurism. Exploring clichés to the point of saturation, these combinations present different ways of learning to look and looking to learn.
Tessa Hughes-Freeland & Holly Adams, Nymphomania
(1994) S8, b&w/sound, 9min
A reaction to a sense of violation experienced through a love affair gone wrong. Hoping to express the conflict between the feminine experience of sex as a loving unifying event and its corruption by the male’s base animal instincts. The female body is not portrayed as a sexual phenomenon. It is the male who transforms the nude female form into an image of sexuality. Nudity and penetration are not intended to arouse or stimulate the audience. Instead, it invites the viewer to contemplate the relationship he or she has to his or her own sexuality.
Marguerite Van Cook, Chasing the Unstitched Hem
A reading / performance to be conducted with secrets and concealments.
Peter Cramer & Jack Waters with guests. Marys: Stag Nation
A mythographic pageant evoking the Sister/Sinner/Saint aspects of Mary; Pagan meets Pious. Study #8 in the development of “Pestilence”, a three part opus.
Anne Hanavan, I Love Jesus
(2003) color, sound, 3 min
In I love Jesus we see the first in a series of personal rituals that the artist undertook to regain power over her past. Hanavan is confronting her present obstacles as they relate to those in her past life as a heroin addict and prostitute. An auto-erotic self portrait of the artist. High tone and natural light with clever editing set to a classic punk soundtrack makes this piece the quintessential postmodern porn.
Highly sexualized imagery is juxtaposed against religious imagery in most of the artists work as she comes to terms with how the two, sex and religion, relate and purges herself of all negative influence inflicted by each.