From: Dara G (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Sep 29 2008 - 18:06:52 PDT
Hello Frameworkers,
I wanted to let you know about the film/video component of an
exhibition I co-organized which is currently open at Exit Art in NYC
(it will travel to Miller Gallery in Pittsburgh in January). It is
about the history of social movements through the culture produced by
or in conjunction with the movements.
There are three components to the film/video programming outlined
below, much of this work is rarely seen.
1. Weekly Screenings (Sept 30-Dec 6, 2008) details here http://
www.exitart.org/site/pub/exhibition_programs/signs_of_change/
film_screenings.html
2. Weekend of Screenings and Discussions (Oct 11-13), Co-organized
with Benj Gerdes and Paige Sarlin from 16beaver group, http://www.
16beavergroup.org/events/archives/002615.php
Including a screening on 16 mm of Narita: Peasants of the Second
Fortress by Ogawa, with an introduction by Barbara Hammer and Sabu
Kohso, more details below.
3. Installed Works (looping throughout the duration of the show) -
info not on-line so I've supplied it below
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2. SATURDAY, October 11 at Exit Art, 475 10th Ave @ 36th Street
4 pm: Finally Got the News
(1970, 55:00 minutes, shown on 16 mm, League of Revolutionary Black
Workers, Stewart Bird, Rene Lichtman and Peter Gessner, courtesy of
the American Friends’ Service Committee)
The League of Revolutionary Black Workers came out of the autonomous
organizing of Black unions in Detroit-based automotive plants which
included DRUM (Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement) and CRUM (Chrysler
Revolutionary Union Movement). The League critiqued the racist
practices of the United Auto Workers and called for an analysis of
the role of the Black working class in revolutionary struggles in the
United States.
Plus: Gimme an Occupation with that McStrike-Paris, 4:05 min, 2005,
Victor Muh (description below)
7:30 pm: Narita: Peasants of the Second Fortress / Sanrizuka:
Dainitoride No Hitobito
(1971, 02:23:00 minutes, shown on 16 mm, Shinsuke Ogawa/Ogawa
Productions, Japanese with English subtitles, courtesy of the Athénée
Français Cultural Center)
Introduced by Barbara Hammer, filmmaker and Sabu Kohso, Japan-born
writer and activist
"In Japan, guerilla film activity reached high intensity during the
war (Vietnam).The use made of Japan as a conduit for Vietnam war
supplies generated strong anti-government feelings and many 'protest
films.'...It now saw such powerful films as the Sanrizuka series-
three feature length films. The heavy air traffic through Japan-
swollen by the war-hap prompted a 1966 decision to build a new
international airport for Tokyo.The area chosen, Sanrizuka, was
occupied by farmers who were determined to block seizures of their
lands. For four years, the film maker Shinsuke Ogawa documented their
struggle, which reached its climax in the third film, The Peasants of
the Second Fortress. Here we see resistance turning into a pitched
battle with riot police as farm women chain themselves to
impoverished stockades, and students join the struggle for anti-
government, anti-war motives. Ogawa, patiently recording the growth
of resistance...achieved an extraordinary social document, and one of
the most potent of protest films." - Erik Barnouw, Documentary: A
History of the Non-Fiction Film, (Oxford University Press, 1974)
Screening co-sponsored by Asian/Pacific/American Institute and Tisch
Department of Photography & Imaging at NYU in conjunction with The
Uses of 1968: Legacies of Art and Activism Symposium and 1968: Then
and Now Exhibition.
SUNDAY, October 12 at 16beaver group, 16 Beaver Street, Fourth Floor
$5 – $10 donation
12 pm – 9 pm: Featuring Diva TV (1989); Queen Mother Moore Speech at
Green Haven Prison (1971); Winter Soldier (1972); Winter Soldier:
Iraq and Afghanistan (2008); Stronger Than Before (1983); Fourth
World War (2003) and others TBA. Discussions to follow.
MONDAY, October 13 at 16beaver group, 16 Beaver Street, Fourth Floor
$5 – $10 donation
12 pm – 9 pm: Featuring Happy Anniversary San Francisco, March 20-21
(2003); What the Fuck Are These Red Squares? (1970); U.S. Premiere of
Five Days for Peace (1973) Filmmaker Present; Crowd Bites Wolf
(2001); A Very Big Train Called the Other Campaign (2006); U.S.
Premiere of What Would It Mean to Win? (2008); Kanehsatake: 270 Years
of Resistance (1993); and others TBA. Discussions to follow.
For more information on the programs at 16Beaver, please visit www.
16beavergroup.org or call 212-480-2093.
16beaver group is located at 16 Beaver Street, Fourth Floor, New York
City
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3. Installed Videos - looping the duration of the show
(monitor 1) Gimme an Occupation with that McStrike
(2005, 04:05 minutes, Victor Muh, Precarity DV/–Magazine, made in
collaboration with: P2Pfightsharing Crew; Greenpepper Project,
Amsterdam;
and Candida TV, Rome)McDonald's workers go on strike in Paris,
occupying their workplace (a McDonald's restaurant) for six months.
Richmond Strike
(1969, Newsreel, courtesy of Roz Payne Archives) In January l969,
local police in Northern California attacked striking oil workers and
their families, killing one person and injuring many others. Student
protestors from San Francisco State University were asked to join the
struggle, uniting workers and students against a common foe. This
film includes interviews with employees on strike and against Shell
Oil inMartinez and Richmond, California.
(monitor 2) Repression (13:33 minutes, Newsreel, courtesy of Roz
Payne Archives)
A documentary about the Los Angeles Black Panther Party with music by
Elaine Brown.
Queen Mother Moore Speech at Green Haven Prison (1973, 17:00 minutes,
People’s Communication Network [co-founded by Elaine Baly and Bill
Stevens], courtesy of Chris Hill and Bob Devine)
Think Tank, a self-organized group of prisoners at Green Haven
Prison, coordinated a community day with outside activists. This tape
captures a powerful speech by one of the guest speakers: Queen Mother
Moore, a follower of Marcus Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro
Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL).
People's Communication Network, a community video group founded by
Bill Stevens, documented the event for cablecast in New York City.
(monitor 3) Up Against the Wall Ms. America (1968, 08:00 minutes,
Newsreel, courtesy of Roz Payne Archives) This film documents a
creative Women’s Liberation protest outside the 1968 Miss America
Pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Women’s Lib Demonstration I (1970, 05:00 minute excerpt,
Videofreex, courtesy of Video Data Bank and the VideoFreex Partnership)
Documentation of the 1970 Women's Liberation march in New York City,
part of the "national women's strike for equality" called to
commemorate the 50th anniversary of women's suffrage. Demonstrators
include members of Women’s Strike for Peace. Videofreex was an early
video collective, which existed from 1969-1977. During that time, the
collective documented the counterculture and social movements,
experimented with new video technology, ran a pirate television
station, and produced over 1,500 tapes.
Purple Dinosaur Action Segment (1973, 10:00 minutes, Barbara
Jabaily, Tracy Fitz and Lesbians Organized for Video Experience
(L.O.V.E), courtesy of the Lesbian Herstory Educational Foundation,
Inc.)
In this film members of the Lesbian Feminist Liberation (LFL) create
a large, purple, papier-mâché dinosaur and wheel it to the Museum of
Natural History in New York to protest the patriarchal values and
histories presented by the museum. They are accompanied by the
Victoria Woodhall Marching Band, a lesbian marching band that
performed at protests and senior centers. L.O.V.E. documented many of
the activities organized by LFL, including the New York City Lesbian
Olympics and this action at the Museum of Natural History.
(monitor 4) South Africa: Freedom Rising (1978, 20:00 minutes, audio
slideshow, ITT Boycott and the Dayton Community Media Workshop,
courtesy of the American Friends’ Service Committee) This slide show
was produced to educate Americans on the injustice of the apartheid
system in South Africa and the presence of US corporations in that
country. It serves to illustrate one of the many ways grassroots
movements used technology that was accessible to them to get the
message out. The Dayton Community Media Workshop described itself as
“a collective of artists working within the New American Movement.”
(monitor 5) Indonesia: Art, Activism, and Rock ‘n’ Roll (2002, 26:00
minutes, Charlie Hill Smith and Jamie Nicolal, in Indonesian and
English with English subtitles, courtesy of Marcom Projects)This
documentary film follows Taring Padi, an art collective based out of
Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Since 1998, the group has produced posters,
murals, street performances, puppets, poetry, and music and has
published a newsletter. They describe themselves as an "independent
non-profit cultural community, which is based on the concept of
peoples' culture." They are committed to contributing to autonomous
culture, democracy, and social justice in Indonesia.
(monitor 6) It Can Be Done (1974, 32:00 minutes, Shirley Jensen and
Barbara Bejna with the Chicago Women’s Graphic Collective, courtesy
of Kartemquin Films and Shirley Jensen)
This documentary follows the Chicago Women’s Liberation Print Shop as
it makes a poster for United Farm Workers. These artists, women, and
activists talk about their collective process and the political
relevance of this project within the women’s movement and other
political campaigns.
(monitor 7)
TXTmob - Nw Mor Thn Evr (2004, the Institute for Applied Autonomy,
courtesy of the Institute for Applied Autonomy) Documentation of
creative uses of a text messaging service devised to assist protest
communications. The Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA) is an arts
and engineering collective founded in 1998 devoted to developing
“technologies which extend the autonomy of human activists.”
(monitor 8) Reclaim the Streets (1996, 07:00 minutes, Undercurrents,
courtesy of Undercurrents) Undercurrents is an alternative news
organization that has documented social movements in the United
Kingdom since 1994. This film documents a Reclaim the Streets Party-
Protest.
Sound Demo (03:11 minutes, Japanese Activism DVD, courtesy of ill
commonz) A sound demo from Reclaim the Streets, Japan.
Transistor Connected Drum Collective (06:49 minutes, illcommonz,
courtesy illcommonz) Japanese experimental musicians reclaim the
streets of Tokyo to protest the war in Iraq.
(projected) Iraq Veterans Against the War: Operation First Casualty
(2008, 5 minutes, Elizabeth Press for Democracy Now) Iraq Veterans
Against the War (IVAW) is a national organization formed in 2004 by
veterans of the Iraq War. Operation First Casualty (OFC) is a street
theater project that members of the organization perform dressed in
military uniforms. OFC stages performances that are reenactments of
combat patrols on the streets of US cities, as they would happen in
Iraq, to bring the realities of war home. In this document they
perform OFC outside the Democratic National Convention in Denver 2008.
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Hope you can check it out!
Best, Dara
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.