Adolescent boys, and Living rooms
Curated by Astria Suparak
For Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City + Yale School of Architecture, New Haven, CT
2002-2003. Tour through 2006.
Video, audio work by:
Messieurs Delmotte, Harrell Fletcher & Jess Hilliard, Miranda July, Jon Leone, Jennifer Reeder, Jon Rubin, Jesse Sugarmann & Mike Long, Alex Villar
(Not for the faint of heart). Holy Shit and donuts, you are My Little Stallion raging death -n- destruction, white rats and heavy metal — what else do you think of when left on the carpet with a remote control or some flesh in hand? “I wish I was a baller, I wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her.”
These audios + videos are forcibly lonely and nihilistically sweet. They’ll pin you down and slowly drip spit on you, whether you’re practicing crossovers on a suburban driveway or pile-drivers in a backyard wrestling ring. I’ve got the moves if you’ve got the skills (together we could make a great team).
PROGRAM
Hello There Friend, Harrell Fletcher and Jess Hilliard, 2002, Video as intro-installation, variable time.
“Jess and I made this video in my neighbourhood in Portland, OR. We had been going for walks and Jess had been picking stuff up off the ground and showing it to me in his hand, like a little surprise. We liked that a lot. It was a way of making the bits of trash special. So we decided to shoot a whole video of the activity. We went on I think four walks, all within about ten blocks of my house. Jess found the objects (over 700 of them) and I videotaped them by standing behind him and shooting over his shoulder. We would like to do this piece in other locations as a way of both doing work and getting to hang out together.” -HF, “Hello There Friend”
Bruce Lee, Miranda July, 2002, Audio, 1:35 minutes
Upward Mobility, Alex Villar, 2002, Video, Silent, 6:35 min.
“Like the in-between activities it seeks to investigate, my work lives between various fields: part nomadic architecture, part intangible sculpture and part performance without spectacle.” – A.V.
or “In contrast to the invisible horizontal line drawn by everyday movements in the city, this video shows a person in search of vertical deviations from this norm. This project is part of a long-term investigation and articulation of potential spaces of dissent in the urban landscape.” – A.V.
Anthony, Harrell Fletcher and Jon Rubin with Anthony Powers, 1997-2002. Video, 5:49 minutes
From an exhibition that revolved around the interests of a San Francisco art student. “In general Anthony was always banging on tables and when we asked him what he was doing he said that he was drumming to all of the heavy metal songs that were constantly flowing through his head.” – H.F.
Ce qui est fait le mal est fait, Messieurs Delmotte, 1998, 4 minutes
“This is not a performance and even less a good idea.” – M.D.
Mystery artist “Messieurs Delmotte” performs silent-movie hijinks with disregard for dignity and limb.
10 Beers in 10 Minutes, Jesse Sugarmann and Mike Long, 1997, 14:19 minutes
Small Sleepy Driver and the Fountain of Blood, Jennifer Reeder, 2002, video, 14 minutes
“This is a personal tape about history, boredom and super-8 film. A lone boy lurking in the grassy knoll plays himself in a day-to-day anti-drama. The same boy takes on the un-romantic role of a well-known political figure. It is judicious to assume that in this instance, somewhere between speculation and depression lies the truth. This piece features music by Prefuse 73, Autopoieses and Stars of the Lid.” – J.R.
Receiver, Jon Leone, 2001, video, 20 minutes
“A documentary investigating the unpredictable subculture of Backyard Wrestling, a sport organized by teenagers around the U.S. in order to alleviate small town boredom. Taking the showbiz antics of pro- wrestling even further than Pay-Per-View allows, these kids create elaborate, scripted theatrics with very real dangers – jumping off rooftops, throwing competitors into pools of thumbtacks, pummeling each other with lawn furniture. Shot on location in Belvidere, Illinois.” – J.L.
Total running time: 68 minutes
Previous versions included:
Humane Restraint, Ann Weathersby, 2002, Video, 8:05 minutes
“Humane Restraint” engages elements of video, sculpture and performance, using the body to provoke a physical, psychological and emotional experience. A man with a video camera encounters a woman’s head on the beach and engages it in dialogue. The camera shakes and mercilessly zooms in and around the head’s features. The body is fully buried for long periods of time, so there is a complete relinquishing of control. Tensions concerning vulnerability versus security, repression versus outcry, intellect versus emotion and private versus public space are explored. The scrutiny of the woman’s physiognomy also reflects the intensity of the gaze, and the dialogue challenges ideas of trust and intimacy. – A.W.
Chinese Fruit, Miranda July, 2002, Audio, 00:53 seconds
El Güero, Jim Finn, 2001, 2:40 minutes
Tres canciones con una rata blanca, playera roja, y un donut.
Slow Gin Soul Stallion, Animal Charm, 1996, video, 2:30 minutes
Equestrian love, a brooding boy, and an ominous soundtrack re-edited from inexplicable media detritus.
The Little Big, Pierre Yves Clouin, 1999, video, 3:38 minutes
“There are things colossal in things small.” – PYC
Dancing Girls, Jennifer Sullivan, 2002, Super-8 film to video, as intro installation, 8:50 minutes
“A document of girls (including myself) performing in the mid-1980s, expressing themselves instinctually, exuberantly, self-consciously, hysterically. Their dancing is both authentic and completely theatrical at the same time.” -J.S.
Red Bugs, Ted Passon, 2001, video, 3 min.
“A chance encounter at dawn between the American filmmaker and a man in Gujurat, India.” – T.P.
Getting Stronger Every Day, Miranda July, 2001, 6:30 minutes
“GSED captures the experience of becoming lost and found, from moment to moment, and over the course of a lifetime. This is played out in mundanely poignant tableaus in which the spirit realm manifests in lo-tech effects and remembered TV movies.” – M.J.
TOUR DATES
November 15, 2002, 7:30pm
One part of the 2-part video series curated by Astria Suparak for Museo Tamayo’s “Panoramica Series”
@ Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo, Paseo de la Reforma y Gandhi, Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico City
March 29, 2003, 5pm
Special U.S. screening as part of the Yale University School of Architecture festival “Moving Landscapes, Capturing Time” (with Jem Cohen, Roger Connah, Natalie Jeremijenko, Braden King, Astria Suparak)
@ Yale University, Hastings Hall, New Haven, CT
April 22, 2003, 3pm
@ School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
July 18, 2003, 9:30pm
Outfest 2003: The 21st Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Platinum Section
@ The LA Gay and Lesbian Center’s Village, 1125 N. McCadden Place (one block east of Highland, one block north of Santa Monica), Los Angeles, CA
January 9-30, 2006, Mondays, 9pm:
Aurora Picture Show: One part of the three-month Monday Night Series guest curated by Astria Suparak
@ Clark’s Home of Easy Credit, 314 Main Street, Houston, TX
Selections of Adolescent Boys screened at:
March 4, 2003, 8:30pm
Video Mundi
@ The Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theatre, Chicago, IL
March 8, 2003, 1pm
Video Mundi
@ Heaven Gallery, 1550 N. Milwaukee, Chicago, IL
March 13, 2003, 7:30pm
@ Artists’ Television Access, 992 Valencia Street at 21st, San Francisco, CA
Astria Suparak 