Program Notes for Adolescent boys, and
Living rooms
curated and introduced by Astria
Suparak
for Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo
and Yale University, School of Architecture
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Dates
Adolescent
boys, and Living rooms
(Not
for the faint of heart). Holy Shit and donuts, you are My Little Stallion raging
death -n- destruction, white rats and heavy metal-- what else do you think of
when left on the carpet with a remote control or some flesh in hand? "I wish
I was a baller, I wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her."
These audios + videos are forcibly lonely and nihilistically sweet. They’ll
pin you down and slowly drip spit on you, whether you’re practicing crossovers
on a suburban driveway or pile-drivers in a backyard wrestling ring. I’ve got
the moves if you’ve got the skills (together we could make a great team).
Harrell
Fletcher and Jess Hilliard. HELLO THERE FRIEND. 2002.
Video as intro-installation. Variable time.
"Jess and I made this video in my neighbourhood in Portland,
OR. We had been going for walks and Jess had been picking stuff up off the ground
and showing it to me in his hand, like a little surprise. We liked that a lot.
It was a way of making the bits of trash special. So we decided to shoot a whole
video of the activity. We went on I think four walks, all within about ten blocks
of my house. Jess found the objects (over 700 of them) and I videotaped them
by standing behind him and shooting over his shoulder. We would like to do this
piece in other locations as a way of both doing work and getting to hang out
together." -HF, "Hello There Friend"
Miranda July.
BRUCE LEE. 2002. Audio. 1:35 min.
Alex Villar. UPWARD MOBILITY. 2002. Silent.
6:35 min.
"Like the in-between activities it seeks to investigate, my work
lives between various fields: part nomadic architecture, part intangible sculpture
and part performance without spectacle." -A.V.
or "In contrast to the invisible horizontal line drawn by everyday movements
in the city, this video shows a person in search of vertical deviations from
this norm. This project is part of a long-term investigation and articulation
of potential spaces of dissent in the urban landscape." -AV
Harrell Fletcher and Jon Rubin with Anthony Powers.
ANTHONY. 1997-2002. 5:49 min.
From an exhibition that revolved around the interests of a San
Francisco art student. "In general Anthony was always banging on tables and
when we asked him what he was doing he said that he was drumming to all of the
heavy metal songs that were constantly flowing through his head." -HF
Messieurs Delmotte. CE QUI EST FAIT LE MAL EST FAIT. 1998.
4 min.
"This is not a performance and even less a good idea." -M.D.
Mystery artist "Messieurs Delmotte" performs silent-movie hijinks with disregard
for dignity and limb.
Jesse Sugarmann and Mike Long. 10 BEERS IN 10
MINUTES. 1997. 14:19 min.
Jennifer Reeder. SMALL SLEEPY DRIVER AND THE
FOUNTAIN OF BLOOD. 2002. 14 min.
"This is a personal tape about history, boredom and super-8 film.
A lone boy lurking in the grassy knoll plays himself in a day-to-day anti-drama.
The same boy takes on the un-romantic role of a well-known political figure.
It is judicious to assume that in this instance, somewhere between speculation
and depression lies the truth. This piece features music by Prefuse 73, Autopoieses
and Stars of the Lid." -JR
Jon Leone. RECEIVER. 2001. 20 min.
"A documentary investigating the unpredictable subculture of
Backyard Wrestling, a sport organized by teenagers around the U.S. in order
to alleviate small town boredom. Taking the showbiz antics of pro- wrestling
even further than Pay-Per-View allows, these kids create elaborate, scripted
theatrics with very real dangers - jumping off rooftops, throwing competitors
into pools of thumbtacks, pummeling each other with lawn furniture. Shot on
location in Belvidere, Illinois." -JL
T.R.T: 68 minutes
Previous versions included:
Jim
Finn. EL GüERO. (2001),
2:40 min.
Tres canciones con una rata blanca, playera roja, y un donut.
Animal Charm. SLOW GIN SOUL STALLION. (1996),
2:30
Equestrian love, a brooding boy, and an ominous soundtrack re-edited from inexplicable
media detritus.
Pierre Yves Clouin. THE LITTLE BIG. (1999),
3:38
"There are things colossal in things small." -PYC
Ted Passon. RED BUGS. (2001), 3 min.
"A chance encounter at dawn between the American filmmaker and a man in Gujurat,
India." -TP
Miranda July. GETTING STRONG EVERY DAY. (2001),
6:30 min.
"GSED captures the experience of becoming lost and found, from moment to moment,
and over the course of a lifetime. This is played out in mundanely poignant
tableaus in which the spirit realm manifests in lo-tech effects and remembered
TV movies." -MJ
Jennifer
Sullivan. DANCING GIRLS. (2002). Super-8 film to video,
as intro installation. 8:50 min.
"A document of girls (including myself) performing in the mid-1980s,
expressing themselves instinctually, exuberantly, self-consciously, hysterically.
Their dancing is both authentic and completely theatrical at the same time."
-J.S.
Ann Weathersby.
HUMANE RESTRAINT.
Video. 8:05. 2002.
"Humane Restraint" engages elements of video, sculpture and performance, using
the body to provoke a physical, psychological and emotional experience. A man
with a video camera encounters a woman's head on the beach and engages it in
dialogue. The camera shakes and mercilessly zooms in and around the head's features.
The body is fully buried for long periods of time, so there is a complete relinquishing
of control. Tensions concerning vulnerability versus security, repression versus
outcry, intellect versus emotion and private versus public space are explored.
The scrutiny of the woman's physiognomy also reflects the intensity of the gaze,
and the dialogue challenges ideas of trust and intimacy. -AW
Miranda
July.
CHINESE FRUIT. (2002). Audio. 00:53 sec.
contact a
(at) astriasuparak.com for more information
or see www.astriasuparak.com
PO Box 1813 / New York, NY 10009