ISSUE Project Room » documentary

“Knots and Fields” (Darmstadt Summer Course Documentary Film Screening)

andrew — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:29:16 +0000

NYC Premiere of the documentary “Knots and Fields” by filmmakers Andrew Chesher and David Ryan. Since 2008, both British artists Andrew Chesher and David Ryan have intensely worked with interview and archive material on their film about the Darmstadt Summer Course. “Knots and Fields” documents the history and present activity of this important institution, which Darmstadt “Classics of the Avant-Garde” has taken inspiration from since the beginning. The International Summer Course for New Music was brought to life immediately after the end of the World War II, 1946, and became one of the most important centers for the music of our time. Olivier Messiaen, Edgar Varèse, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luigi Nono, Iannis Xenakis, Brian Ferneyhough, Helmut Lachenmann and Wolfgang Rihm are just a few of the legendary faculty who have taught at Darmstadt.

Excerpt from Knots & Fields: Pierre Boulez on John Cage

The Darmstadt Institute is made possible, in part, through generous support from the Dedalus Foundation and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council

Tony Oursler’s “Synesthesia”

Zach Layton — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:58:59 +0000

DARMSTADT “Classics of the Avant Garde” begins its month-long Institute at ISSUE Project Room with a special edit of Tony Oursler’s video project, Synesthesia, with editor in attendance to discuss the work.

Tony Oursler‘s Synesthesia project is an oral history of New York’s downtown music, performance and art scenes. For the DARMSTADT music series, Oursler‘s editor creates a special version, focusing on experimental composers. Interviewees include Genesis P-Orridge, Glenn Branca, Laurie Anderson, Tony Conrad, David Byrne, and Arto Lindsay. These works were originally included as one element of Ourslerand Mike Kelley’s multimedia installation The Poetics Project. These conversations reveal fascinating insights and anecdotes from some of the most influential figures in the experimental rock and art underground of the 1970s and ’80s, from pre-punk innovators to post-punk icons, from industrial and avant-garde music to noise bands and “no wave.”

This program is made possible by the Experimental Television Center (supported by the New York State Council on the Arts)

Mary Jordan Presents “Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis”

Zach Layton — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:54:34 +0000

JACK SMITH & THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS

“…an extraordinary job…”
Variety

“A real triumph…something of an aesthetic manifesto”
Filmmaker Magazine

“Superb…a fascinating portrait…a glorious visual achievement”
TIMEOUT London

“Irresistible…”
Time Magazine

For Jack Smith (1932-1989), Atlantis was both the idea of a fantastical utopia and the reality of the Lower East Side apartment in which this prophetic artist staged baroque, improvisational multi-hour one-man theatrical productions, often with a cast of stuffed animals and dolls. An avant-garde photographer, filmmaker, actor, performance artist, and all around “flaming creature,” Smith has been credited as a major influence by Fellini, Godard and Jarmusch. In Mary Jordan’s mesmerizing portrait, he fairly jumps off the screen: a combination mystic, comedian and madman, a protean artist whose vast energy and creativity were undermined (or perversely fed?) by the poverty of his day-to-day life and his paranoid misgivings about just about everything. If there is a heaven for the wonderfully bizarre, Jack Smith resides there, accompanied by his patron saint, Maria Montez.

myspace.com/destructionofatlantis

Mary Jordan – Director/Producer

Mary Jordan grew up traveling between Toronto and the Bronx. She began working in production at the age of 16, after attending the Norman Jewison
film school. By the age of 20, she was producing for Canada¹s top new directors, such as Steve Chase, Marco Brambilla, and Curtis Wehrfritz, and
for leading production companies like Revolver, The Partners, Alliance, and Nitrate Films. During this time, she traveled across North Africa to shoot
her first documentaries and short pieces on female circumcision rituals and the cultural modernization of women in the area, which would later be
acquired by the BBC.

After extensive travels, Jordan settled in Sydney, Australia where she continued her documentary work on projects such as ABC¹s Tribal Music of
Tonga and was awarded by ABC News for her bravery while documenting refugee camp conditions on the Thai-Burmese border for Médecins Sans Frontières. While in Sydney, Mary worked as a talent scout as well as founded, and later sold, the production Indigo Blue within which she produced and directed commercials and music videos.

In 2005, Mary Jordan was featured as one of Filmmaker Magazine¹s 25 New Faces. Shortly thereafter, she premiered her first feature length
documentary entitled Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis which has garnished many awards. In addition to her work in film, Mary is also involved in photography, performance art, and music.