Neo-Avant Garde

For Isaac, but maybe of interest to others.

Sven-Olov Wallenstein, "Transformative Technologies," Cabinet, Spring 2001

First paragraph: Is the avant-garde dead, defunct, an attitude belonging to a past whose bearings on the present have been lost once and for all? Or does it always await us, coming toward us from a future whose shape is as yet undetermined and open? The first option seems inevitable if we link the idea of the avant-garde to modernism as it exploded on the scene in the 1920s and 30s, and if we see it as a defined and historically circumscribed style with a definite set of questions that can surely no longer be ours within the space of postmodernity, where the artistic gestures of the early twentieth century seem hopelessly naïve. But if we try to detach the impetus of the avant-garde from what has paradoxically enough become its heritage, if we unearth its problems rather than its solutions, then we could perhaps incline towards the second option: the avant-garde is neither alive nor dead, but always there, virtually, waiting to be redefined and reinvented anew.

Post "Beaches of Agnes" Screening

On Sunday I attended the screening of “Beaches of Agnes” which, as mentioned by Jesse in a previous blog, is an autobiographical film by the French film director Agnes Varda. As an audience member having only seen “Cleo from 5 to 7” it was interesting reflecting on the director’s life without history or foreknowledge of her life and career.

I learned that Varda created around 46 Independent films, and from the clips shown throughout the film it seemed as though Varda constructed contemplative narratives discussing social and humanistic issues.

“Beaches of Agnes” is a colorful, whimsical, playful film that discusses heavier topics revolving around memory, time, love, and loss. During the panel session at the end of the film there was a discussion on how Varda’s self-reflection was based off of the people in which she surrounded herself and with whom she had relationships. Naturally, we all are weaved in our individual contexts. However, I wonder how individual they truly are considering that we all experience the same emotions. In the film Varda says “emotions are something we can not control.” John Dewey argued that “art is an exemplary form of human meaning-making” and Mark Johnson argues that “we must realize that aesthetics is about the conditions of experience as such, and art is a culmination of the possibility of meaning in experience.” I guess my main thought is how our individual circumstances evoke emotions. I wonder how as art-makers we attempt to control our individual emotions, in order to transcend them as a means for discussing origin. Is emotion the basis for all art and how is it that art goes from rationalization of emotion only to, hopefully, evoke emotion? Or is this not always the case…

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2063401497/

Alexander Gutke @ MOCAD

Last week I saw a show at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit featuring work by Alexander Gutke.

From MOCAD's website:
Preoccupied with modes of reproduction, self-reflexivity, illusionism and cinema, the work of Alexander Gutke could be characterized by a kind of mystical materialism. His exploration of these concerns moves into a variegated and allegorical territory whose many terrains include space and the void, animation and illusion, and the micro and the macro. Gutke's meticulous and poetic sensibility is that of an unusual storyteller whose works narrate their own material conditions with a sublime economy. More...

I was left absolutely cold by the work, but very interested in the wall text. I'm struggling with formulating a solid opinion of the show and keep thinking about it...Is anyone familiar with his work?

Beaches of Agnes - Sunday at 5:10

As mentioned and emailed, the Bijou is screening The Beaches of Agnes by Agnes Varda, the internationally beloved and respected French geriatric female filmmaker. She's been making international hits since the French New Wave. She's always fun to watch and so are her movies - art and entertainment, what more could we expect of film?

Also, Beaches has been getting monster reviews - http://www.newyorker.com/arts/reviews/film/the_beaches_of_agnes_varda

Be there or be square. You can see it between this Thursday and next Wednsday at the Bijou, but the panel discussion - and myself - will be at the Sunday 5:10 showing (panel after movie).

THE BEACHES OF AGNES
Special Screening with Panel Discussion
Sunday, December 6th, 5:10 PM at the Bijou Theater

The Beaches of Agnes
Directed by Agnes Varda
France, 2008, 110 min, French w/ English subtitles, 35mm

Notable French New Wave filmmaker, Agnes Varda, turns the camera on herself in the autobiographical documentary THE BEACHES OF AGNES. Recounting vivid memories of the French film scene, Varda shares stories of various filmmakers including Alain Resnais and her deceased husband, Jacques Demy. THE BEACHES OF AGNES presents a visual scrapbook of Varda's memories, combining film clips, photos, and whimsical animation to tell her life story.

There will be a panel after the screening with members of he Cinema and Comparative Literature Department:
Prof. Steven Ungar
Prof. Sasha Waters Freyer
Andrew Peterson, Ph.D. candidate

Other times for The Beaches of Agnes can be found on Bijou calendars and at our website.

The Bijou Theater is located in the Iowa Memorial Union - Tickets available day of show for $5 - www.bijoutheater.org - 319-335-3258