ELECTION 2004 DOUBLE FEATURE
HALF OF THE PEOPLE and C RED BLUE J
an evening of politics and art from 2004 to put this year's antics in context
October 13 8pm (one screening)
From
the proceeds of the screening, a donation will be made in Sarah Palin's
name to the Planned Parenthood MInnesota, North Dakota, and South
Dakota Action Fund
HALF OF THE PEOPLE ARE STONED AND THE OTHER HALF ARE WAITING FOR THE NEXT ELECTION
*A line written by Paul Simon for Leonard Bernstein's Mass (1971).
A screening of activism-oriented video, performance documentation, and new media from 2004
Curated by Nick Hallett
As
the race to the White House consumes our nation's collective attention,
let's take a look back to the 2004 election and celebrate the unique
spirit of that year when the art world in New York and across the
country took up the mantle of this country's great activist tradition.
Many
artists who make political work do so regardless of their calendars,
but the high stakes of '04 yielded contexts for agit-prop art and
performance unseen since the late 1960s. Initiatives like Downtown for
Democracy and the Imagine Festival united New York's artist communities
against the Bush administration as the RNC rolled into town. The
Internet matured as a critical venue for countercultural action in
attempts to revise standard models of protest. Audiences and critics,
eager to experience their own distaste for the current state of affairs
distilled into forms of art and entertainment, gave greater voice to
explicitly political work. Guerrilla theater filled the streets at
every opportunity for nose-thumbing, resulting in countless arrests,
while cellphone cameras rolled to create a new kind of
folk-documentary. Culture and politics collided in vivid and memorable
fashion.
This collection of work from four
years ago offers itself as something of a time capsule, although not
enough time has passed for true nostalgia to set in. The 2008 election
is playing itself out very differently than its predecessor. Without a
concrete enemy to inspire rage, Americans--artists included--seem to be
placing their faith in the system and its candidates. But how different
is our country's situation? Aren't we even worse off than four years
ago?
- ASCII Bush, Yoshi Sodeoka, 2-channel video installation, 2004
- I Need a Contingency Plan, Taylor Mac, video document of Live Patriot Acts: Patriots Gone Wiiild!, 2004
- Campaign Spots, Guy Richards Smit/John Pilson/Lou Fernandez, video, 2004
- March for Women's Lives, April 25 2004, Pink Bloque/Blithe Riley/Dara Greenwald, video, 2004
- Keanu Reeves for President, Laura Parnes, video, 2004
- Folk Music and Documentary, Seth Price, video, 2004
- 2304 Is a Beer Drinking Year, Jen Liu, video, 2004
- KerryRocks.net, Cory Arcangel/Jonah Peretti, video download, 2004
- The President of the United States, James Tigger! Ferguson, from Live Patriot Acts: Patriots Gone Wiiild!, 2004
- Arnold's Ass, Laura Parnes, video, 2004
- Big Screen Version, Aaron Valdez, video, 2004
- Play the Game, Imaginary Company/Peter Glantz/Ben Jones, television advertisement, 2004
- Fuck the Vote, Carbon Defense League, video, 2004
- See the Elephant! (excerpt), Ryan Junell, multi-channel installation mixed to video, 2004
- (includes document of musical work Ringing for Healing by Pauline Oliveros)
- Jamming: By the Waters of Babylon (excerpt), Saul Levine, 16mm transferred to video, 2004
- Listen (excerpt), Aldo Tambellini, video, 2004-05
- White Man, Suicide, video document of live performance shot by Punkcast/Joly MacFie, 2004
- Vote for Bush or Burn in Hell, Laura Parnes, video, 2004
- TXTMob, Institute for Applied Autonomy, video, 2004
- A World With No Bush, Julie Atlas Muz, from Live Patriot Acts: Patriots Gone Wiiild!, 2004
- Up Came Oil!, The Yes Men/Patrick Lichty, computer animation and video, 2004
- Libber, Wynne Greenwood, video/performance, 2004
Total Running Time: 80 mins
followed by C RED BLUE J
directed by Chris Sollars
C
RED BLUE J is an experimental documentary feature that illustrates the
complications of division during the 2004 Presidential election as it
is manifested in one family. Director Chris Sollars, an artist living
and working in San Francisco sets out to try and bridge the political
gaps in his own family between a younger sister who works for the Bush
Administration, a Born Again Christian father, and Lesbian mother. C
RED BLUE J is pieced together through an archive of family super-8
films, photos, interviews, and art videos. The story personalizes the
political division of the 2004 Presidential campaign as the Gay
Marriage Vote is tactically used to split the Nation’s vote and the
director’s family. C RED BLUE J puts a face to the name of the
opposition and reconstructs the lack of communication within a family
and the nation.
Featuring music by John Dwyer (Coachwhips), Hisham Bharoocha (Soft Circle), and Fuckwolf
"Christopher
Sollars wants to figure out why his family is so politically
divided—he’s an arty San Francisco liberal and his mom’s a lesbian,
while his dad’s a born-again Christian and his sister is a Dubya
cheerleader working for the Department of Energy. Using home movies,
photos, interviews with his family, old political ads, and footage from
the 2004 election, Sollars assembles a collage film that attempts to
locate connections between American political scandals and his family’s
dysfunction. (His parents’ divorce, for instance, is discussed amid
footage of Iran-Contra.) Mondale ads didn’t accomplish anything in
1984; what makes Sollars think they’ll work any better now?" (Mark
Athitakis)
Nick Hallett is a musician and
curator interested in the intersection of music and multimedia. He has
programmed at The Kitchen, Netmage, Aurora Picture Show, All Tomorrow's
Parties, Artists's Television Access, Pacific Film Archive, Ocularis,
Monkey Town, Issue Project Room, New York Underground Film Festival,
Chicago Filmmakers, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Mass Art Film
Society, and Secret Project Robot among others. His music series,
Darmstadt, hosted with Zach Layton, was included in the New York
Times's "Best of New Music 2007." He originated the band Plantains,
which from 2000 to 2003 performed as a live multimedia outfit,
incorporating electronic music and video. Nick enjoys singing music of
several varieties, namely experimental contemporary art song of his and
other's doing, and has appeared recently at The Kitchen and Joe's Pub.
A
note about this benefit: The typically blue state of Minnesota has been
classified as a toss-up in the upcoming election. The Action Fund is
doing grassroots organizing to educate Midwestern voters about the
McCain/Palin ticket's anti-choice policies, which could directly affect
which way it swings on November 4. Nearly one million bucks has been
raised for Planned Parenthood via this popular (and truly unofficial)
campaign and we think helping out the Minnesotans who are doing this
important work is especially necessary to make sure the state upholds
its liberal roots. Plus Sarah Palin will get a card in the mail
notifying her of the donation.
ELECTION 2004 DOUBLE FEATURE
Monday, October 13 at 8pm
Monkey Town
58 N 3rd St.
Brooklyn, New York 11211
tickets $8 to $20 sliding scale benefit for Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Minnesota and the Dakotas
L to Bedford
