Media Arts Preview: Christian Marclay's 'The Clock' at LACMA
The big thing in media art this week is the west coast debut of Christian Marclay's "The Clock" Monday, showcasing an amazing example of cinematic remix, running 24 hours.
Thursday, May 12
LACMA presents The Elemental Cinema of Terrence Malick, a filmmaker known for his lush imagery and philosophical themes. The series starts tonight with a screening at 7:30 p.m. of the celebrated tale of love and murder "Badlands," with Sissy Spacek in person.
The tribute continues on Friday with "The Thin Red Line" and on Saturday with "Days of Heaven," with continued screenings next weekend as well.
Friday, May 13
The UCLA Film and Television Archive, NYU and Filmforum present Celebrating Orphan Films: The Orphan Film Symposium West. The show features films that are somehow neglected, overlooked, abandoned or rarely screened, and they are selected by a group of archivists, lab and technology experts, scholars, filmmakers, curators and collectors. With two full days of screenings, the showcase is vast and varied, with early newsreels, a short produced by the Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio in China called "Light Calvary Girl," which looks at the military's female cyclists, and films by the pioneering computer artist Lillian Schwartz. The series begins tonight at 7:30 p.m. and continues all day Saturday.
Saturday, May 14
Levi's Film Workshop at MOCA features an afternoon session with British animator Jim LeFevre today at 1:00 p.m. Titled Phonotropic Fun, the workshop shows participants how to create looping animations using a device similar to the zoetrope. In the evening, starting at 7:00 p.m., Franz Keller, aka VJ Franz K, will show his work, which mixes video journalism, music, computer graphics and projection. Download the full workshop schedule here.
The Pasadena Museum of California Art presents two new shows this week. "Clayton Brothers: Inside Out" examines the rich, frenetic work of the LA-based artists who are inspired by "California skateboard and surf culture, punk rock, folk art, cartoons and street art." The show of paintings and mixed-media installations will be open through September 4. The second show is "Street Cred: Graffiti Art From Concrete to Canvas," which surveys LA-based graffiti art and was curated by Shirlae Cheng-Lifshin and graffiti historian Steve Grody. The shows will open with a reception tonight at 7:00 p.m., with DJ Garth Trinidad and live painting by the Mobile Mural Lab.
The 8th Annual LA 3-D Movie Festival kicks off today at 1:00 p.m. at the Downtown Independent Theater with a screening of 3-D shorts, followed by more screenings throughout the day. The festival, which is organized by the LA 3-D Club, which was established in 1955, continues on Sunday, with demos, presentations and more screenings, followed by a rooftop reception.
Sunday, May 15
Written and directed by Elizabeth Cline, "Tragedy on the Sea Nymph" is an operetta in three acts featuring all-dog cast. The 10-minute short film includes live musical accompaniment, and dogs are welcome to attend the screening happening tonight at Machine Project, with shows at 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.; you'll need to RSVP.
Filmforum presents the work of artist, educator, activist and film preservationist Bill Brand tonight at 7:30 p.m. in a show in the Spielberg Theater at the Egyptian. Titled Interior Landscapes, the screening includes five films by Brand.
Monday, May 16
LACMA recently acquired Christian Marclay's critically acclaimed 24-hour media art project "The Clock," constructed from clips excerpted from film and TV shows, with each image showing a particular time. The specific times are then linked to the actual time of the venue showing the piece, creating a timepiece for viewers. The piece will screenin its entirety in the Bing Theater beginning at 11:00 a.m., marking its west coast premiere. Dubbed by various critics "staggering," "stunning" and "incredible," the piece is both a masterful example of cinematic remix, and a tribute - again - to the database as core form for contemporary art. Writing in the New York Times about the project during its screening at the Paula Cooper Gallery, art critic Roberta Smith mused, "It is hard to say why this panoply of timepieces and plot twists is so gripping, but it is. After watching "The Clock" from around 7:30 p.m. last Friday to past midnight, I dragged myself away, despite the desire to stay and see exactly how the time would be told, how different hours would be rung in."
Thursday, May 19
The Flux Screening Series, featuring innovative shorts, music videos and motion graphics, returns to the Hammer Museum with new work by Patrick Daughters, Jessica Sanders and PES. The show starts at 7:30, and will feature a guest DJ for the courtyard reception following the screening.