Art(Core)
and the Celluloid Body was presented on February twentieth by The Swiss
Institute and MM Serra. The objective, as described by Serra in her
introduction, was to screen a number of experimental films from the Filmmaker’s
Cooperative (of which Serra acts as Executive Director) depicting male and
female forms, ideas, and experiences relating to sexuality, the body, and
desire through film. The word art(core) was suggested by Serra as a replacement
for hardcore in order to stress that these works were not pornography, but
studies in the corporeal through visual metaphors and aesthetic engagement.
This point was likely emphasized because the majority of the selected films were
created within prudish environments seen in the sixties and well into the
nineties that were not particularly open to conversations surrounding
sexuality, feminism, and the subversive.
Serra
is also a filmmaker, and her own film Turner
(1987) was programmed for this event. She introduced herself first as an
artist, then a curator, an author, and finally the Executive Director of the
co-op. With all of these roles intersecting, it was apparent that Serra was in a position conducive
to producing and presenting this program successfully. Additionally, she had already curated
a program with a similar title, Art(Core): Avant-Garde and the Cinematic Body,
that has been presented at a number of locations over the last five years,
including Anthology Film Archives[1]
and The Pleasure Dome[2] with a different
line-up of films each time.
Reported
through its website, The Swiss Institute
explains that its mission originally sought to provide space for Swedish
artists to showcase their work to a Swedish audience, however this mission has
expanded since it’s inception, and now promotes discourse between European
countries and the United States by acting as an international venue[3].
The director, Gianni Jetzer, repeated similar sentiments regarding the purpose
of the institute during his introduction, while also thanking MM Serra for
producing the program, which had been a participation in the works for a number
of years. He also provided a quick narrative describing how the Filmmaker’s
Co-op was born out of Anthology Film Archives, which was founded by an emigrant
(Jonas Mekas), and shares a similar interest in creating dialogue between
international artists.
In
regards to the selection of films, a clear effort was made to introduce not
only hetero-centered subjects, but also queer representations and female
perspectives too. Close to all of the chosen pieces depicted a certain
recognition of sexual otherness, whether it was through using outright
homosexual subjects, or settings involving a number of participants partaking
in varied sex acts. However, a noticeable lack of none-white voices, as well as
a focus on pre-twenty-first century works created a disproportionate screening. All films were projected on 16mm,
a rare and welcomed occurrence, but limiting when considering the number of
contemporary works existing on other formats that would have fit well into the
program. Luckily the timing was planned well in advance, and there did not
appear to be any issues with the two projectors located in the back of the open
space.
Overall,
the program displayed a wide range of techniques and visual forms used by the
experimental film community (animation, emulsion scratching and painting, and
structural processes). Peggy Ahwesh’s film The
Color of Love (1994), provided an example of how found footage could be
re-appropriated, and in this case used to examine gender relations in
pornography. A similar process later used by Naomi Uman in Removed (1999), Ahwesh played with the film emulsion to re-create a
scene between characters in a stag film to ultimately provide an entirely
different message for the audience. Jim Hubbard’s Two Marches (1991) could even be read as found footage, as its
candid shots of unedited marching footage are only contained by intertitles
detailing time and place.
It
will be interesting to see where Serra takes this program into the future, both
in regards to location and works selected. The various iterations from the past
have not incited any follow up critiques or responses to be found for review,
but most likely Serra has an understanding of the various forms her programs
have taken and how she will shape them for the next audience.
See a description and film list of one of Serra's past Art(Core) Screenings here:
http://pdome.org/2008/artcore-the-avant-garde-and-the-cinematic-body/
[1] “Art(Core): Avant-Garde and the
Cinematic Body – The Films of MM Serra,” Eventot,
http://eventot.com/art-core-avant-garde-and-the-cinematic-body-the-films-of-mm-serra/296333.
[2] “Art(Core): The Avant Garde and the
Cinematic Body,” Pleasure Dome, http://pdome.org/2008/artcore-the-avant-garde-and-the-cinematic-body.
[3] “History and Mission,” Swiss Institute
Contemporary Art New York,
www.swissinstitute.net/about/history-and-mission.php.
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