Pratt Film Series poster

Still from “Life Lines/Líneas de Vida” by Tatiana Parcero

Still from “Piano Americano” by Vanessa Beecroft

Chris Burden (1971-74) +
“Young & Restless” performance-based works by women (1993-97)

Organized by Astria Suparak
@ Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
October 18 + 20, 1998

.

PROGRAM

Chris Burden: Documentation of Selected Works 1971-74, 1975, 34 min., video.
An influential and controversial figure in the West Coast body art, performance, and Conceptual Art movements, this historical document reveals the major themes of Burden’s work – the psychological experience of danger, pain and physical risk, the aggressive abuse of the body as an art object, and the psychology of the artist/spectator relationship.

Young & Restless
A selection from the exhibition at the MoMA, NY, curated by Stephen Vitiello and co-organized by Barbara London and Sally Berger. Recent performance-based works by women artists. These energetic, often ironic pieces, made between 1993 and 1997, showcased artists who engage in dynamic explorations of female identity.

1. Life Lines, by Tatiana Parcero, 1995, 6 min., silent.
   Parcero paints her body from feet to head, tracing the veins and organs that represent the lines of her life, the cells of her memory.
2. Shore, by Linda Post, 1996, 6:15.
   A video camera caught in the surf acts as a surrogate performer and witness to unpredictable forces.
3. Sally, by Kristin Oppenheim, 1995, 10 min. (excerpt), b&w.
4. In and Around the Garden, by Beverly Semmes, 1993, 7 min.
   Semmes creates a surrealistic series of still-lifes – motionless, timeless scenes filled with Alice in Wonderland-like costumes.
5. Piano Americano, by Vanessa Beecroft, 1996, 10 min. (excerpt), silent.
   Beecroft performs at the Deitch Projects gallery, using women models as images.
6. In the Present, by Phyllis Baldino, 1996, 12 min.
   Baldino constructs scenes that explore the idea that the brain can grasp only 3-12 seconds as “the present,” unimpeded by memory.

.