Perpetual Motion presented by San Francisco Cinematheque in association with Gray AreaSeptember 16––December 7, 2016
Perpetual Motion is the most comprehensive convergence of international performance cinema practitioners ever seen in the Bay Area. Presented over seven evenings September 16–December 7, 2016, with all artists performing in person, this series is curated by San Francisco Cinematheque and will be presented at Gray Area’s historic Grand Theater, located in San Francisco’s Mission District.
Featured artists include the return of legendary experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs (NYC), rising Montréal duo Le Révélateur (video artist Sabrina Ratté & musician Roger Tellier-Craig, of Fly Pan AM and formerly Godspeed You! Black Emperor) and in a rare North American appearance, the spectacular Trinchera Ensamble film-performance collective from Mexico City.
Performance Cinema is an exciting and emergent genre of avant-garde moving-image art which represents a crucial attack on the sterility of the contemporary, digitally-located media environment, arguing for the embodied, collective consideration of real-time, site-specific media experiences. Through mis-used or modified analog film projectors, live video synthesis and physical interaction with the media interface, performance cinema practitioners variously burn, etch, mutilate and destroy projected film, machinery and the image itself. These artists create immersive spectacles of sight and sound, opening a space for questioning and contemplating visual culture through direct activation of the senses. As a dynamic, regenerating and resurrecting media experience, Performance Cinema exists only in the present and is truly an art of its time.
Performance scheduleAll performances at Gray Area / Grand Theater 2665 Mission Street, San Francisco CA 94110 ?Ticket on sale Tuesday, August 16. Click here for ticket info.September 16, 2016 | 8pm - Perpetual Motion, Program One: Dust to Dustarc (Oakland) / Jürgen Reble (Germany) / Trinchera Ensamble (Mexico City/Seattle)September 17, 2016 | 8pm - Perpetual Motion, Program Two: Ghosts in the MachinesScott Arford (Oakland) / Michael A. Morris (Dallas) / Le Révélateur (Montréal)October 11, 2016 | 8pm - Perpetual Motion, Program Three: Ken Jacobs’ Nervous Magic LanternKen Jacobs (NYC)October 26, 2016 | 8pm - Perpetual Motion, Program Four: Natural ForcesBeige (Richmond) / Keith Evans (Bolinas) / Karl Lemieux (Montréal) + BJ Nilsen (Sweden)November 9, 2016 | 8pm - Perpetual Motion, Program Five: SpectresJohn Davis (Vallejo) / Kerry Laitala (San Francisco) + Voicehandler (Norway/Oakland) / Raha Raissnia (Tehran/Brooklyn) + Panagiotis Mavridis (Greece/Brooklyn)November 22, 2016 | 8pm - Perpetual Motion, Program Six: Birth / Death / ResurrectionMalic Amalya + Nathan Hill (Oakland) / Sally Golding (Australia/UK) / Hangjun Lee (Seoul) + Jerome Noetinger (France)December 7, 2016 | 8pm - Perpetual Motion, Program Seven: Cinema of Confrontation/The EndBruce McClure (Brooklyn) / Greg Pope (UK/Norway) + Sult (Norway/Oakland)
ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO CINEMATHEQUEFounded in 1961, San Francisco Cinematheque is the Bay Area’s premier exhibitor of avant-garde/experimental, underground and personally expressive film, video and performance cinema, including the annual CROSSROADS festival of artist-made cinema.
ABOUT GRAY AREAGray Area is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization supporting Art & Technology for Social Good. Their Mission is to apply art and technology to create positive social impact through education, civic engagement and public programs.
Perpetual Motion is funded by generous grants from the Fleishhacker Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund/Grants for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation and by donations from Cinematheque’s individual donors and members. Ken Jacobs appears with support from the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
Perpetual Motion Media Sponsor: KQED
PROGRAM DETAILS, ARTIST BIOS, IMAGES AND ONLINE VIDEO PREVIEWS AVAILABLE HERE.
