Rudolf Frieling
Saturday, February 21, 2015, 3–4pm
In 1976, Anthony McCall declared a radical shift in his artistic direction in an unpublished statement titled “Film as a Connective Catalyst,” delivered before a distinguished audience of critics and filmmakers including Annette Michelson, Hollis Frampton, Tony Conrad and others. From objects and primary structures to films as a "primary event," Anthony McCall was among those artists who rejected the notion of installing art in museum galleries, declaring that contemporary avant-garde filmmakers had succeeded in doing little more than changing venues from the art house to the actual museum. Four decades later, he is among those artists who push museums to review, re-stage, and re-perform primary events as museum pieces. Some claim that this is a mis-representation and revisionist deformation of a historic period, others, myself included, believe that the question of "what and where the object is" is a productive question which is needed today to redefine museum practice. When we think of time-based installations as performative events of "objects" and rules, we can push the notion of a museum collection as a "performative event."
RUDOLF FRIELING is Curator of Media Art at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Prior to SFMOMA, Frieling was curator at the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany from 1994 to 2006. At SFMOMA, Frieling has curated the survey shows In "Collaboration: Early Works from the Media Arts Collection" (2008), "The Art of Participation: 1950 to Now" (2008/2009) and "Stage Presence: Theatricality in Art and Media" (2012) as well as monographic exhibitions with among others Douglas Gordon, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Sharon Lockhart, Christian Marclay and Anthony McCall.
A reception with the participants will follow from 5pm to 6pm.
In 1976, Anthony McCall declared a radical shift in his artistic direction in an unpublished statement titled “Film as a Connective Catalyst,” delivered before a distinguished audience of critics and filmmakers including Annette Michelson, Hollis Frampton, Tony Conrad and others. From objects and primary structures to films as a "primary event," Anthony McCall was among those artists who rejected the notion of installing art in museum galleries, declaring that contemporary avant-garde filmmakers had succeeded in doing little more than changing venues from the art house to the actual museum. Four decades later, he is among those artists who push museums to review, re-stage, and re-perform primary events as museum pieces. Some claim that this is a mis-representation and revisionist deformation of a historic period, others, myself included, believe that the question of "what and where the object is" is a productive question which is needed today to redefine museum practice. When we think of time-based installations as performative events of "objects" and rules, we can push the notion of a museum collection as a "performative event."
RUDOLF FRIELING is Curator of Media Art at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Prior to SFMOMA, Frieling was curator at the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany from 1994 to 2006. At SFMOMA, Frieling has curated the survey shows In "Collaboration: Early Works from the Media Arts Collection" (2008), "The Art of Participation: 1950 to Now" (2008/2009) and "Stage Presence: Theatricality in Art and Media" (2012) as well as monographic exhibitions with among others Douglas Gordon, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Sharon Lockhart, Christian Marclay and Anthony McCall.
A reception with the participants will follow from 5pm to 6pm.