American Originals Now: Ernie Gehr
May 12, 13
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
East Building Concourse, Auditorium

The ongoing project American Originals Now offers an opportunity for discussion with established independent filmmakers and a chance to share in their art. This two-part retrospective devoted to highlights from the work of Ernie Gehr (born 1943)—one of the most prolific of the generation of American filmmakers who first challenged the notion that the cinema must correspond to visual reality—includes post-screening discussions with the artist. Gehr's concern for film's formal attributes, which can produce beautiful and startling effects, parallels the interests of minimalist art. "Even as film goes the way of all flesh and is supplanted by digital, Gehr's work affirms the persistence of cinema"—Manohla Dargis.

Perspectives on the Street
May 12, 14:30

Ernie Gehr in person

This program of three short films (shown in conjunction with the photography exhibition I Spy: Photography and the Theater of the Street, 1938–2010) includes one of Gehr's most well-known works, Side/Walk/Shuttle (1991, 16 mm), a rhythmic and disorienting study of San Francisco's built environment; This Side of Paradise (1991, 16 mm), a meditation on an impromptu Polish flea market set up in Berlin just before the Wall came down; and Essex Street Market, remnants of a lost public place in lower Manhattan (2004, silent video, 29 minutes). (Total running time approximately 83 minutes)

Visiting Video Shadows
May 13, 16:30

Ernie Gehr in person

Gehr's change of focus from 16 mm film to digital formats in 2004 brought him new ways of interpreting light, the very subject of his life's work. The short silent piece Shadow (2007) is the first in a program of poetic recent short videos, many of which allude to early cinema and the technologies and techniques employed then: magic lanterns, hand-tinted images, and "trick" films. Other works in the program include Thank You for Visiting (2010, 12 minutes), Auto-Collider XIII (2011, 13 minutes), and ABRACADABRA (2009, silent). (Total running time approximately 63 minutes)