VideoLibrary City of Women 1996
The City of Women VideoLibrary presents a selection of recent art-related films and videos. The collection includes work by young, emerging female directors; documentaries on internationally acclaimed female “avant-garde” artists; the ICA and the No Alternative Girls-videos (see page xx18); as well as some audio-visual “backgrounders” for the City of Women Talks.
A glimpse at the programme:
“Nobody’s Here but Me” is a portrait of the New York based photographer Cindy Sherman. Sherman is known for her
portraits of women, in which she is not only the photographer, but also the
subject. She has produced hundreds of pictures of herself in a bewildering
variety of roles, from B-movie starlet to Old Master Photographer. Her
intriguing photographs have made Sherman herself a feminist icon.
“Invocation of Maya Deren” by director Jo Ann Kaplan evokes the life and spirit of the Russian-born American experimental filmmaker and film-theoretician. In the forties and fifties Maya Deren, through her films, writing and lecturing, had a seminal influence on the emerging American film avant-garde.
“Frida Kahlo & Tina Modotti” is a Laura Mulvey's documentary about two women artists who lived and worked in Mexico during the period of “Mexican Renaissance”. It shows how the painter Kahlo and the photographer Modotti reacted in contrasting ways to the pressures and opportunities of Mexico in its post-revolutionary aftermath. The problems they faced are those which still concern women artists today.
“The Desert is no Lady” by Shelley Willams offers a very different vision of the American Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas). Looking through the eyes of its leading contemporary women artists, we are led into the border territory where cultures meet and mix.
“The Fall” is an original dance work based on the life of Celeste Dandeker, whose career as a professional dancer was abruptly ended by an accident on stage which paralysed her legs. Directed by Darshan Singh Bhuller.
“Dalda 13 - A Portrait of Homai Vyarawalla” directed by Monica Baker narrates the story of the Indian photographer. Vyarawalla’s photographs cover more than three decades in the birth of the “Young India”. From the assassination of Ghandi through the optimism of independence, Vyarawalla’s unique interpretation goes beyond documentation to represent the spirit of the times.
The “No Alternative Girls”-videos include (amongst others) films by the new cult-director Sadie Benning (“German Song”, “Welcome To Normal”, and “Girlpower”); Tamra Davis’ five minute documentary “No Alternative Girls”; Diamanda Galas’ “Judgement Day”; spoken word-shows by Lydia Lunch; “Under Lock and Key”, “Stigmata”, “Thanatopsis”, and “Belladonna” by New York’s underground film-making Beth B.; Vivienne Dick’s “New York Conversations”; and Annie Sprinkle’s do-it-yourself sex-video-workshops.
“White Homeland Commando” is an unconventional American TV-serial directed by Liz LeCompte (The Wooster Group), in which she comments on the rise of hate crimes, Klan-based electoral activity and white supremacist attitudes in the US today.
The Canadian, UK-based performer/choreographer/filmdirector Alison Murray attacks gender stereotypes in “Wank Stallions”, “Kissy Suzuki Suck”, “Pantyhead”, “Sleazeburger” and “Bad Mood Woman”.
In her “What does she see when she shuts her eyes?” Karen Vanderborght takes us on a surreal journey and in her “The Queer or Dead Long Live The Queer” she demands tolerance in electronic colours, with as special guest the queen of England.
Furthermore video-art by Ana Torfs (“Condition” and “Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda”), Ghislaine Gohard (“Moksha” and “Aktualismus”).
A complete list of films and videos is available in Cankarjev dom V-Room.
In collaboration with The British Council; The Arts Council of England; ICA; argos
