Los Angeles Plays Itself

The ICA and The International House, with Penn Cinema studies, is hosting an ongoing series examining the use of archival image in moving-image art: Living Document / Naked Reality: Towards an Archival Cinema will present works in video, installation, and traditional “black box” cinema that respond to a particular historical moment and cultural movement through the engagement of archival material.

This Saturday, January 14, at 1pm, they will be screening Thom Andersen's LA Plays Itself (2003, 169 min.), an essay film that juxtaposes Hollywood's depiction of Los Angeles with the city's social and political history.

The will be followed with a roundtable discussion with myself and Timothy Corrigan, from Penn's Cinema Studies' program.

Saturday, January 14

1pm
International House (3701 Chestnut St.)
$9 and $7 for Students/Seniors (Free for ICA and International House members)

Animate Art! series

Karen Beckman, from Penn's Cinema Studies and Art History programs, has curated for the ICA a series of media makers using animation:

The Animate Art! series foregrounds the recent interest that artists have shown in a variety of animation practices within the museum context. Through conversation with artists from a variety of geographic locations we will consider a variety of questions, including: the relationship between animation and other media; contemporary artists' engagement with the histories of art and film; the role of music; the differences among various forms of animation; and animation's treatment of history, time, and place.

This Thursday, at 6:30pm, the series continues with Jennifer Levonian, a local artist who works in cut-paper animation. Levonian will screen her latest film, The Oven Sky, with a live performance by New York-based artist and singer Rachel Mason.