Thursday, March 13, 2014, 8:00 pm, $7
Curated by Molly Hankwitz.
program:
“H20,” Ralph Steiner,( 1929), 12:00
“Sweet Friday”, (1975) Keichii Tanaami, Japan, 3:20
“Flotsam”, (2012)Sean Hanley with Meerkat Media collective, Brooklyn, NY, 5:00
“Levitating Water Drops form Spinning Stars”, 2014, Weiyu Ran, Steven Fredericks, John R. Saylor, 1:01
“Spinning Water – The Experiment”, (2012) Jeff Reneger, 3:28
“Metamorphosis”, Atefeh Khas, (2013), Iran, 1:56
“Hitchcock Dishing”, Evelin Stermitz, (2009), 2:00
“Experiment 2”, Allison Holt, (2008) 4:01
“See/Sea”, (2013) dual projection, Susan Sentler, 15 mins.
“Speaking Tributaries”, documentary work in progress, interviews with senior community about Sausal Creek in Oakland, 10:00 with Q&A.
“Gaza Above the Storm”, Yaser Mutjara, AIN media, 2013, 12:00 mins
Maia Mural Project w/Q&A, Susan Greene in person
Water, water, we need water! This film and video program is inspired by extreme water weather conditions and the avant-garde filmmaker Ralph Steiner’s films (H20, 1929 and Surf and Seaweed, 1929-30) and is a collection of otherwise recent short works and works in progress, on or about the especially precious resource of clean and potable water, without which we mere mortals could not survive.
Water and its fluid dynamics, the transparent, potable liquid essence of life, the object of meaning in lore and love; as deluge, refreshment, and trickle, is probed and examined conceptually as both artistic and scientific matter in this upbeat and delightful program. It is celebrated as substance, and used and studied as metaphor in a cinematic evening of drips, droplets, and drenchings then, suddently no where; impure, inconsistent, and intangible–a drowning, drying, melting and monumental mercurial essence in the cinematic play. MATTERS OF WATER explores the fluid as both natural element and as questionable commodity.
Steiner’s preoccupation closely observes water as shifting material in movement and surface appearance in natural and mechanical states, as water plays with light, gravity, earth and sky, in a variety of ordinary locations including shorelines with lapping waves, rivulets,puddles, natural streams over rocks and pebbles, or spurting and tricking from small fountains, pipes, and taps. He focuses upon water’s multiple capacities and properties and his associations with these within the framework of an abstract aesthetics. Steiner’s meditations, along with other films in this program are a playful artistic and curator’s critical antidote to drought; a gentle reminder to conserve at home.
MATTERS OF WATER features a compendium of shorts which pay some attention to the cultural meanings of our Earth’s most precious substance. With films and videos by Ralph Steiner, Sean Hanley+ Meerkat Media, environmental performance artist, Atefeh Khas, Allison Leigh Holt, Jeff Reneger, Wieyu Ran, Steven Fredericks, and John R. Saylor, Evelin Stermitz, Speaking Tributaries, Yasef Murtaja, Susan Sentler, Susan Greene/Maia Mural Project…and special pre-show offerings. Light drink and refreshments at the bar.