Monday November 27, 7pm ET In Person & Online
Microscope is very pleased to present a screening and artist talk with Joel Schlemowitz in connection with his current solo exhibition “ƨlɒƨɿɘvɘЯ” at the gallery, which remains on view through Saturday December 2nd.
Schlemowitz’s films — whether lyrical, sensual, erotic, structural, celebratory, personal, visually explorative, poetic, documentary, musical, performative or various combinations thereof — present, in the artist’s own words, a “heightened state of experience of a poem in a non-verbal means, an undercurrent of mordantly droll humor, a preoccupation with the tactile nature of the filmic image, and an eye towards the Nineteenth Century.”
Inspired by his 35mm slide multi-projector installation currently on view in the exhibit, “Les Preludes,” which features collaged segments of 16mm film footage the artist shot in the 90s, we decided to revisit Schlemowitz’s films from that period. The program includes a selection of 12 short 16mm films all made between 1990 and 1997 by the artist, who has been a champion of the most essentially poetic and experimental forms of filmmaking and for the past three decades has been a key contributor and organizer of the New York film and artistic scene.
The 45-minute program will be followed by a short talk with Schlemowitz about his works on view, as well as a Q&A with the audience. The in-person event will also take place online, with the talk and Q&A live-streamed.
Further information about Schlemowitz’s solo exhibition — including the acrylic on canvas paintings of black & white 16mm filmstrips, as well as the corrugated cardboard sculptures and the 35mm slide installation “Les Preludes” — can by found on our website. _ Joel Schlemowitz is an artist known for working with multiple mediums including celluloid film, collage, painting, sculpture, installation, and performance. Schlemowitz’s work has been presented at institutions including at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Museum of Moving Image (MoMI), New York, NY; Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY; the New York Film Festival (NYFF), New York, NY; Tribeca Film Festival, New York, NY; Ukrainian Institute of America, New York, NY; Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Brooklyn, NY; George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY; Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge, MA; San Francisco Cinematheque, San Francisco, CA; The Images Festival, Toronto, Canada; Museum of Contemporary Cinema, Madrid, Spain; and numerous others. His work has been reviewed and discussed in e-flux, Hyperallergic, Millennium Film Journal, The New York Times, Vice, and many others.
Schlemowitz’s work also appears in publications including “Cinema Expanded: avant garde film in the age of intermedia,” J. Walley, Oxford University Press, 2020; “Experimental Film & Photochemical Practices, K. Knowles,” Palgrave MacMillan, 2020; “Experimental Filmmaking: Break the Machine,” K. Ramey, CRC Press, 2018; and others. He is also the author of “Experimental Filmmaking and the Motion Picture Camera: An Introductory Guide for Artists and Filmmakers,” Focal Press/Routledge, 2019, with a second book forthcoming in 2024. Grants include from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), the Jerome Foundation, the Puffin Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, among others. Joel Schlemowitz currently lives and works between Brooklyn and New Paltz, NY.
