Pierre,
The Smithsonian institution now referred to as SAAM (pronounced "Sam") even
by its curators must be reacting to the disappointing "numbers" for the
impressive film & video series curated by John Hanhardt (who reportedly
exclaimed, "So this is the audience for independent film & video in
Washington DC?", after observing an audience totaling FIVE for his program
entitled "Mediated Vision"). That is, I can now copy the description of
Gary Hill's videos off their daily calendar:
"Gary Hill has created a large and distinguished body of work both in
videotape and installation art. Hill's investigations into how we perceive
the world through language and the moving image has been at the center of
his art making. His two videotapes Incidence of Catastrophe (1987-1988) and
Why Do Things Get in a Muddle? (come on petunia) (1984) explore the poetics
of perception and story telling. (Approx. 90 min.)"
Should I expect to see you and Jacques Derrida in either of these tapes? I
remember being startled when I gradually realized that Charles Stein was
the somewhat familiar individual in one of Gary Hill's videos I did manage
to catch in the past (perhaps in connection with his exhibition at the
Hirshhorn). I recall first meeting John Hanhardt after a reading by Tom
Raworth to which he was brought by the Hirshhorn curator/poet Phyllis
Rosensweig. We discussed the cinematic aspects of Raworth's work, I
believe. Perhaps you can elaborate on how Gary Hill's poetic aspect
developed, since I imagine you may have witnessed personally at least some
of the process? There were, of course, no Washington-based poets at the
Acconci screening, nor do I expect to see any at the Gary Hill and Dan
Graham programs. Most of them will be "bobbing for candy apples" at
Charles Simic's coronation at the Library of Congress, which also crosses
your presentation.
Barry
On Tue, 16 Oct 2007 23:38:31 -0400, Pierre Joris <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>Barry,
>
>would indeed be a pleasure to see you thursday night! No problem
>missing the talk – I love Gary's videos & would have loved to catch
>those – was in fact in one of them improvising on some lines by Saint
>Augustine (if I remember well) in the company of Derrida, who was no
>mean improviser - some time back in the early eighties.
>
>hasta luego,
>
>Pierre
>
>
>On Oct 16, 2007, at 11:51 AM, Barry Alpert wrote:
>
>> I don't believe I've ever witnessed a formal presentation by Pierre
>> Joris &
>> am looking forward to this event, though it crosses the pioneering
>> film &
>> video curator John Hanhardt presenting two videos by the rather
>> poetic Gary
>> Hill. Hanhardt's intro to Vito Acconci's specifically poetic "Red
>> Tapes"
>> this past Saturday was impressive & part of what I "got" out of
>> that whole
>> overwhelming event may be forthcoming as a snapshot shortly. So
>> I'll have
>> to miss the seminar (which I'm certain will be recorded on video)
>> and just
>> catch the reading.
>>
>> http://english.georgetown.edu/Lannan/Index.htm
>>
>> http://explore.georgetown.edu/documents/24624/
>>
>>
>> Barry Alpert
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