“An appealing anti-aesthetic. Coarse and scruffy, yes, but also very hot, in a weird sort of way.”
Tag: 2000
Village Voice
“Peripatetic curator Astria Suparak has an eye for the strange and ineffable.”
New York Press on the underground cinema scene
“Suparak[‘s screenings were] spun with a superlative curatorial taste that combined a savvy political consciousness and sexy indie-rock-style showmanship without ever losing crucial nerd cred.”
DIVE-IN MOVIES: MoMA PS1 Summer Film Series
Held outdoors on PS1’s urban beach, Dive-in Movies is a technicolored summer of star-gazing, subversive silver screen myths, love notes from the underground, and 3-D creatures that only come out at night.
Other Writing
Publications and publishers include: NY Arts Magazine, CEPA Gallery, Concordia University, Fusebox Festival, Heeb Magazine, Offscreen Film Journal, Wolfman Books
SOME KIND OF LOVING
This videotape compilation explores sexuality from its formulation in childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood, referencing psychoanalytic theory as easily as pop culture.
#91: LAST DANCE, LAST CHANCE
The 91st and final show at Pratt. “Curator Astria Suparak leaves Pratt with a bang.” – Village Voice
Camp, Fire
Julie Zando, Jennet Thomas, Bjorn Melhus, Cathy Cook
Recital
Self-reflexivity and the rites of passage.
{Re:soundings}
Rarely seen optical work from the German collective SELEKTION and videos by American artists working with avant-garde musicians in the early 1980s.
Chicago Reader on Broken Music
“New York film curator Astria Suparak assembled this wonderful program of videos on experimental music in which a variety of artists put familiar instruments and objects to unusual uses, showing that the seen world is alive with sonic possibilities.”
Dark Into Dark
“Video is used by Vito Acconci, Charlemagne Palestine, and Tony Oursler as a medium for investigating and exhibiting obsession, trauma, and need for control.” – Village Voice
SEX ON THE FRITZ
Dis-ease and uncomfort within desire.
Village Voice panel on experimental film resurgence in NYC
“A particular mode of filmmaking has begun to flourish again in New York, fueled by young enthusiasts and newcomers… We asked a number of knowledgeable parties to discuss the current scene”
TV/Voyeur
Freebasing TeleVision culture. Videos by Alex Bag, Michel Auder, Jennifer Reeder, Animal Charm, Maura Jasper.
SEXUALITY MALFUNCTIONED
(Performance) Anxiety, ambivalence, anticipation.
BROKEN MUSIC
Musical instruments are destroyed and technology is applied in peculiar ways. These de- compositions are made for video by both contemporary and historical figures, with a nod to Jimi Hendrix and the Fluxus movement.
PLAYGIARISM
“This program includes some of the most intriguing recent and historical works [of found footage collage films]” – The Village Voice
Other Screenings at Pratt
The Pratt Film Series was a weekly program dedicated to showing work not easily accessible to the public and to forging ties across disciplines including performance, music, painting, sculpture, animation, theater, and architecture. Over the course of three years, Suparak presented work from 18 countries, spanning nearly the history of cinema, as well as hosted guest filmmakers and performers, traveling film and music festivals, and collaborations with other New York City venues.
Astria Suparak 