The Blazing Fireplace of Guardianship
The Blazing Fireplace of Guardianship
by Shana Moulton
Content, Winter 2012
80 pages / $10 Buy from Content or SPD
Shana Moulton’s collection of found and altered images, The Blazing Fireplace of Guardianship, is the Winter 2012 edition of the Content series (which Blake wrote about here). This is a tender and enigmatic assemblage almost entirely devoid of words, which reads like a challenging and hysterical existential essay, an empathic exploration of modern spiritualism, a cynical contextual analysis of the marketing of the new age, a personal memoir, a mockery of a certain trend towards neo-mysticism in modern art or a map through “the decadent maze of spiritual liberation.”
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May 4th, 2012 / 12:00 pm
May 4th, 2012 / 12:00 pm
Stephanie Barber works at a museum
Photo by Cara Ober
Poet and artist Stephanie Barber has installed herself in the Baltimore Museum of Art. She’s been there since June 25, and she’ll be there until August 7. And she brought along her studio.
This isn’t an endurance piece, like what Marina Abramović did so beautifully at MoMA. Stephanie, who is doing the performance/installation/video work in conjunction with the Sondheim Prize, is making videos as she normally would, but at a faster clip. She’s producing one a day. Her setup in the gallery is a sight to behold for the way it deconstructs the museum. When is the last time you’ve seen pictures from a magazine haphazardly tacked to a museum’s wall? Or the last time you watched a video with a soundtrack performed by museum patrons as they pass through? READ MORE >
A Constant Froth of Expectation: Stephanie Barber Interview
The other day I “had a chance” to “sit down” with filmmaker, poet and performance artist Stephanie Barber to discuss her book, these here separated to see how they standing alone or six films by stephanie barber, which I published with PGP in 2008 then again a few months ago. As the title suggests, the collection features six movies on a DVD, packaged with the soundtracks printed in book form. The interview was a continuation of a lot of other conversations about art and life that she and I have had lately.
How did you come up with the idea to put this together? Since we’ve been talking about the origins of ideas lately, I’m wondering if this book was your idea or my idea?
I don’t know. That’s the first question? Your idea.
How did you choose the six pieces, out of all the many films you’ve made?
Um, these are the ones that have the most, uh, writerly soundtracks.
Writerly?
I don’t know, not writerly. Wordy.
What is something you want the audience to know about the book/DVD?
I can’t answer that question.
It seems to me that separating the text underscores the fact that you are working in two different languages — English and then the visual language. Which comes first?
They come together. They are conceptually one unit, one impulse, one art gesture, one art offering.
But when you’re thinking about a piece, such as–
I think about the whole thing together.
There are a lot of great videos on Youtube. Not yours though. Is that old fashioned or what’s going on there?
Um, this is a mean interview. Are you trying to be mean to me? READ MORE >
This is such a blog post
I forgot that when I get really tired and I’m at work it’s good to write a long blog post that doesn’t make any sense and doesn’t really say anything. READ MORE >
Film Comment Lists Films/Stephanie Barber
Film Comment has posted their “Avant-Garde Poll,” listing the best films and filmmakers of the last decade. Tied for #21 (I’m noting that the first 14 on the list of 50 are all men) is Stephanie Barber, whose book and DVD, these here separated to see how they standing alone or the soundtracks of six films by stephanie barber, will be available again from Publishing Genius in June.
That’s my favorite part of the list. There’s probably more to reflect upon. For instance, this Jim Trainor movie, which is fantastic:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZE_dBxM9IE&feature=related
May 6th, 2010 / 4:46 pm