American Originals Now: Fred Worden

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Possessed (Fred Worden, 2010)American Originals Now: Fred Worden
December 11 & 17, 16:30h
National Gallery of Art
Fourth Street and Constitution Ave., NW, 20565 Washington DC

Since the 1970s, Fred Worden has been making experimental films primarily to examine "how a stream of still pictures passing through a projector at a speed meant to overwhelm the eyes might be harnessed to purposes other than representation or naturalism." With wholehearted revelry in cinematic illusion and a commitment to kinetic abstractions, he produces short films and digital videos that draw attention to subjective perceptual play through the manipulation of visual phenomena. Assistant professor of art at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Worden has produced work exhibited at festivals and venues in Paris, Hong Kong, Rotterdam, London, New York, and Toronto.

Possessed and Other Shorts
Fred Worden in person
Sunday, December 11, 16:30h
Digital video is Worden's current chosen medium, allowing for a myriad of mind-bending experiments or "optical locations." This program collects several of his more recent works, including Here (2005, 7 minutes), "a conjuring in order to accommodate a clandestine rendezvous between Sir Laurence Olivier and Georges Méliès"; Possessed (2010, 9 minutes), a reworking of a short clip from an early Joan Crawford movie that establishes her firmly on the "outside"; and the ribald When Worlds Collude (2008, 13 minutes) among others. "Seizing upon the gifts and gullibilities of our eye-brain perceptual system, Worden catalyzes a maelstrom of unlocked imaginings"—Mark McElhatten. (Total running time 74 minutes)

After Hours in the Cerebral Kitchen
Fred Worden in person
Saturday, December 17, 16:30h
After Hours in the Cerebral Kitchen is the title Fred Worden has given to a malleable artist's talk/lecture he has designed to contextualize his interest in the moving image and human perception. Following the presentation, Worden will show one of his early 16 mm nonfiction films, How the Hell I Ripped Jack Goldstein's Painting in the Elevator (1989, 22 minutes), and offer a rare opportunity to view and discuss his current work in progress, tentatively titled All or Nothing. (Total running time 80 minutes)

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