Microscope presents an evening with Andrew Lampert including “Other Means” (2014) and “Swan Silvertones for Two Roberts: Haller & Fenz,” (2022) as part of our series of imageless film performances taking place in connection and collaboration with the “Imageless Films” series at Anthology Film Archives.
First presented at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, IL in 2014, “Other Means” is an audio piece consisting of filmmakers and fellow travelers of Lampert’s talking about the “relevance of cinematic viewing versus the convenience of an iPad and other technologies.” This subject feels particularly timely after the recent closures of cinema theaters and our experience of being forcibly deprived of the theatrical projection.
His new piece “Swan Silvertones for Two Roberts: Haller & Fenz” is a “memorial reprisal” of the artist’s Projector Euthanasia series in which he “cares for” broken and barely working projectors. Lampert feeds them food and liquids, performs minor surgery and subjects them to other restorative/destructive actions in in order to provide a swift and painless passing.
“When invited somewhere I ask my host to gather as many half-working projectors as they can find and then I ceremonially sentence them to death.” — AL
The first performance took place in 2013 at the Bastard Film Encounter in Raleigh, North Carolina. The series, which includes many iterations with different titles, has also appeared at Issue Project Room (2015) and the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in 2017, among others.
Robert Haller (1942-2021) was a film programmer, writer and photographer, who worked at Anthology Film Archives in various capacities including as Executive Director and Head of the Library for a period of 35 years. Robert Fenz (1969-2020) was an experimental filmmaker, programmer and projectionist (including at Anthology Film Archives).
A Q&A with Lampert follows the performance.
Further information:https://microscopegallery.com/andrew-lampert-swan-silvertones-for-two-roberts/
Please note: Masks are required for entry to our events at this time.